French govt expell Jews and Gypsies as PAP welcome FTs

[motormafia]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...e-roma-evictions/story-e6frg6so-1225923607240

EU Justice Commissioner slams France for 'Nazi-style' Roma evictions



Roma evictions

Expelled Roma after arriving in Bucharest on two special flights from France. Source: AP

FRANCE faces legal action for discriminating against Roma in an ethnic policy reminiscent of the Nazi era, a senior European Commissioner has warned.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding used unusually harsh language to criticise the French government's "disturbing" policy of targeting ethnic Roma for eviction and to threaten legal sanctions.

"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," Ms Reding said. "I have made crystal-clear my doubts about the legality of the French measures ... I am convinced that the commission will have no choice but to initiate infringement measures against France."

The warning came as 69 Roma arrived on a flight to Romania from Marseilles, bringing the total repatriated this year to more than 8000.

Ms Reding, from Luxembourg, was also furious that two French ministers had assured her there was no intention to single out Roma as a group, only for a leaked government memo to spell out a few days later that Roma were the focus of evictions.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related Coverage

* EU threatens France over Roma 'disgrace' Adelaide Now, 9 hours ago
* France's Gypsy policy branded a disgrace Adelaide Now, 17 hours ago
* France slams Castro's 'holocaust' charge Adelaide Now, 3 days ago
* Romania prepares for crime wave with exodus The Australian, 3 Sep 2010
* Roma 'war' sparks summer of dissent The Australian, 31 Aug 2010

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

"During a formal meeting with the French ministers Eric Besson and Pierre Lellouche, the Commission received political assurances that specific ethnic groups were not being targeted," Ms Reding said in Brussels.

"I can only express my deepest regrets that the political assurances given by two French ministers officially mandated to discuss this matter are now openly contradicted by an administrative circular issued by the same government.

"The role of the commission is made extremely difficult if we can no longer have confidence in the assurances of two ministers in a formal meeting with two commissioners. This is not a minor offence in a situation of this importance. This is a disgrace."

Paris officials hinted that Ms Reding had overstepped her authority but she was adamant that the full commission would begin a legal process this month in which France could be ordered to change its laws and be fined by the European Court of Justice.

French officials acted quickly to remove ethnic references from the leaked memo, which originally called for a "systematic operation to dismantle illegal camps, making a priority of those of the Roma".

Ms Reding warned that, in her view, France would face court action, forcing it to improve legal protection for migrants under the EU Free Movement of Persons Directive unless Paris changed this voluntarily. She added that Paris could also be charged with "discriminatory application" of the directive.

"Let me be clear, discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or race has no place in the European Union. I find it deeply disturbing that a member state calls so gravely into question ... the common values and the law of the European Union."

A source at the French Foreign Ministry said: "We were surprised, to put it mildly, to hear of Ms Reding's statements. We do not think that this type of statement will help to improve the lot of the Roma who are at the heart of our concerns."

Paris is particularly outraged by Ms Reding's reference to the Second World War, which alluded to France's deportation of Jews and Gypsies during the Nazi occupation. Foreign critics and some of the left-wing Opposition have drawn similar parallels.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is publicly shrugging off the criticism of his domestically popular Roma policy but his team is beginning to worry about the likely fallout when France takes over the chair of the G20 group of nations on November 12. Mr Sarkozy wants to project himself then as a consensual international statesman.

Brice Hortefeux, the Interior Minister, who is heading the French police operation, told parliament that the operation to dismantle "illegal camps" and deport illegal immigrants was entirely within French and European law. A total of 441 camps had been demolished since August 1, he said, "in strict keeping with the law".

The commissioner's attack is embarrassing for Mr Sarkozy as he seeks to quell unease in his centre-right camp over the drive that he ordered against the estimated 15,000 Roma from Romania and Bulgaria since July. Sections of the President's Union for a Popular Movement believe that it was an error to single out the Roma when he proclaimed a new "war on crime".

 

[motormafia]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWw9LGzBQHXRjdV3ItDy9Kc4ceNQ

French Roma round-up draws more flak

By Amer Ouali (AFP) – 1 day ago

PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government was forced further onto the defensive Monday over its drive to deport Roma Gypsies, as more UN and European officials sharply criticised the policy.

The attack from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights came as France struggled to account for a leaked government memo which appeared to confirm that the Roma ethnic minority had been singled out for expulsion.

The order, circulated to police chiefs last month in the wake of a hard-line speech by Sarkozy, has undermined France's claim to be treating cases of illegal immigration on a purely case-by-case basis.

In particular, it has embarrassed Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who last week assured his European colleagues that Roma are treated no differently than other EU migrants who fail to meet French residency criteria.

"I was not aware of this circular," Besson told France 2 television. "It was not addressed to me and I did not need to know about it."

In Brussels, France's European affairs minister Pierre Lellouche, also faced criticism.

"Europe is trying to put France on trial over the way in which a circular was written," he complained, on the sidelines of a meeting colleagues from the other 26 member states, denouncing Brussels' "hypocrisy".

"France is a great sovereign nation. We're not at school here. We're applying our own law. I have no intention of being treated, in the name of France, like a little boy," he raged.

The controversial note, signed by Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux's chief of staff Michel Bart and dated August 5, was sent to police chiefs to outline "specific objectives".

"Three hundred camps or illegal settlements must be cleared within three months, Roma camps are a priority," it said.

"It is therefore up to prefects in every part of the country to undertake ... a systematic approach of dismantling illicit camps, as a priority those of the Roma," the circular, seen by AFP, said.

The circular contrasts with Besson's statement on Thursday that "France has not taken any measure specifically against the Roma, (who) are not considered as such but as natives of the country whose nationality they have."

France has deported almost 1,000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania since Sarkozy speech last month, and more than 8,000 Roma have been deported since the beginning of the year, after 9,875 were expelled in 2009.

Officials in the southern city of Marseille said 100 more Roma would be flown out of there on Tuesday, having agreed to accept 300 euro hand-outs rather than wait to be expelled by judicial order.

Evidence that officials took Sarkozy at his word and specifically targeted the Roma rather than any or all migrants living without means of support will heighten criticism from France's international partners.

"Such measures can only exacerbate the stigmatisation of Roma and the extreme poverty and exclusion in which they live," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

"The often stereotyping and discriminatory rhetoric by officials and media when referring to the Roma in Europe is also an issue of great concern," she added, in what is only the latest jab at France from UN experts.

In France, the opposition Socialists seized on the memo to embarrass Besson, a former member of their party who left to join Sarkozy's right-wing cabinet.

Socialist spokesman Benoit Hamon mocked Besson's "undignified" denial, noting the policy is being jointly pursued by the interior and immigration ministries and insisting he must have known about the memo.

Human rights lawyers and pro-immigrant pressure groups piled in, claiming that the document amounted to an illegal order, since French and European law ban discrimination based on ethnic origin.

Rights group Gisti said it would try to get the document "annulled" by the state council, France's highest court.

 

[motormafia]

PAP loves FTs, why don't send SIA flights to France and bring back these FTs?

After all they said bringing in FTs saved Singaporeans' jobs - not referring to their own million dollar ministerial posts?

Bring these Jews & Gypsies in lah!

They may be able to teach LKY some new meditations or some new ways of political masturbations?

LKY love FTs he learned mediation from a foreign FRIEND.

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?t=74218

 

[motormafia]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/15/france-defends-roma-crackdown


France defends Roma expulsion policy

Minister attacks EU for comparing crackdown with second world war deportations

* Reddit
* Buzz up
* Share on facebook (5)
* Tweet this (9)

* Lizzy Davies in Paris
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 September 2010 14.03 BST
* Article history

Roma arriving in Bucharest from France Roma arrive in Bucharest, Romania, after being expelled from France. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

France today angrily defended its controversial Roma crackdown, attacking the European commission for comparing the policy with second world war deportations and for failing to address "the mother [country] of human rights" with sufficient gravity.

Pierre Lellouche, the French European affairs minister who yesterday found himself in the firing line from Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, said he could not allow her to compare "the France of 2010 [with] the France of Vichy".

"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."

Lellouche, who was told yesterday that France could face legal action over the summer crackdown, added that he had spoken to Reding this morning and told her he would like to think "her passion [had] exceeded her rationale".

"A nest egg, a plane ticket going to their native country within the EU: these are not death camps, these are not gas chambers," he added, referring to the one-off payment of €300 (£250) per adult made by French authorities to Roma returning to their home country on so-called "voluntary" return flights.

Lellouche's strident defence of the policy, which has seen nearly 1,000 Roma expelled and dozens of "non-authorised" camps broken up since the beginning of August, was echoed in more mild language by the Elysée. Insisting there was no desire to further the "pointless controversy" with Brussels, it added, in an oblique reference to the second world war comparison: "However, certain comments are quite simply not acceptable."

On French radio, Eric Besson, Nicolas Sarkozy's minister for immigration and national identity, criticised Reding's reference to Jewish deportations in the 1940s, calling it "shocking" and "anachronistic".

The U-turn by the European commission, which came after weeks of criticism by human rights activists for failing to take a tough line with Paris, came in the aftermath of the leak of a French government document showing that the Roma were the explicit target of the crackdown. The government, which was deeply embarrassed by the leak, has since modified the order to remove all reference to a particular group of people.

"There was a mistake in the circular; it has been corrected. The end. Done," said Benoist Apparu, a junior minister and member of Sarkozy's rightwing UMP party.

Among French critics of the Roma crackdown, however, the criticism from Brussels came as proof of their country's tarnished image. "It is a true disgrace for men and women to be hunted down in our country just because they are of a certain ethnicity and not because they have committed crimes," said Martine Aubry, leader of the opposition Socialist party.

 

[HTOLAS]

Sir, in which of the reports does it say the current French government is expelling / has expelled Jewish people?

 

[motormafia]

Sir, in which of the reports does it say the current French government is expelling / has expelled Jewish people?

It is in their parallel with Nazi acts.