From 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion to 2014 Year of European elections
giovedì, March 31st, 2011The full text of the E.M.E.R.G.E. publication can be read here:
European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus
Commissioner Reding announces infringement action against France for a discriminatory application of the Free Movement Directive
venerdì, September 17th, 2010
An extraordinary political conflict between the European Commission and the French Government is taking place in this summer of 2010, European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. On the 14th of September Ms Vivian Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Statement, attacked the Sarkozy government over the mass expulsions of Roma people and accused it of duplicity in its dealings with Brussels. “I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority” said Commissioner Reding. “This is a situation –she added – I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War.”
The reference to deportations in the 1940s facilitated the hard reaction of the French Government. President Sarkozy invited the Commissioner to welcome Roma people in Luxembourg. The comments of Pierre Lellouche, the French European affairs minister, were more articulated. "The tone she took … is not the manner one uses to address a great state like France, which is the mother of human rights" he told French radio. "We are not the naughty pupil of the class whom the teacher tells off and we are not the criminal before the prosecutor."
The point of view of Commissioner Reding is more institutional. After having reminded a contradiction between the political assurances that specific ethnic groups had not been targeted in France and the administrative circular mentioning the Roma people as target group of the expulsions, the Commissioner underlines that “The role of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties is made extremely difficult if we can no longer have confidence in the assurances given by two ministers in a formal meeting with two Commissioners and with around 15 senior officials on the table from both sides.”