Police dismantle the largest Roma camp in Marseille, France in 2013. Erwann Merrien/Demotix. All Rights Reserved.
The arrival of large numbers of mainly Romanian Roma in Italy and France after Romania and Bulgaria became EU member states in 2007 triggered furious political and media reaction. In Italy this migration resulted in inter-communal clashes, the bulldozing of shantytowns on the periphery of Italian cities, and the proclamation of an emergency decree by Romano Prodi, Italy’s prime minister at the time. In France it led to a heated row between France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy and Viviane Reding, then vice president and commissioner of justice, fundamental rights and citizenship at the European Commission (EC). This was an unprecedented confrontation between an EU founding member and the EC.
Sarkozy accused the Romanian authorities of turning a blind eye to ‘trafficking’ while Reding criticised French plans to expel Roma migrants as violating the fundamental right of EU citizens to freedom of movement. Research among Roma migrants by French NGOs found that the vast majority were not ‘trafficked’ but had come to France voluntarily.
