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The French deport foreign criminals

This week, France announced its intention to escalate deportations of foreigners who are involved in theft or aggressive begging. This action is part of a wider crackdown on the Roma minority, which has caused significant concern globally.

Bucharest has expressed that Paris’s initiative to repatriate thousands of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria is “no solution,” as the OSCE joined a growing international outcry and a Roma organization declared a boycott of French products.

The French authorities have detailed plans to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking originating from Romania and Bulgaria. Immigration Minister Eric Besson introduced future adjustments to legislation to facilitate the deportation of offenders.

“We need to widen the avenues for issuing deportation orders for those individuals who threaten public order through repeated theft or aggressive begging,” he conveyed to media personnel.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, speaking at the same press conference, pointed out that Romanian citizens are responsible for one in five thefts in the Paris region.

He reported that criminal activities carried out by Romanians in the French capital had surged by 259 percent in the last 18 months, highlighting that a significant number of Romanians in Paris belong to the Roma minority.

“Currently in Paris, the statistic shows that one in five thefts is committed by a Romanian,” he stated, additionally noting: “For minors, one in four thefts is perpetrated by a Romanian minor.”

This month, France initiated a nationwide crackdown on unauthorized Gypsy camps following an incident in which a police station was reportedly attacked by a group of Gypsies.

French-born Gypsies and transients are to be relocated from the camps; however, Eastern European Roma individuals who cannot demonstrate sufficient means for integration into French society will be deported back to Romania and Bulgaria.

Voluntary returnees receive small cash incentives, while those who refuse will face deportation under legal orders.

Last Thursday, the government deported 283 Roma, bringing the total number of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma expelled this year to 8,313, an increase from the 7,875 deported throughout the previous year.

Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi cautioned that such deportations would not address the underlying issues faced by the minority and called for dialogue between the two nations as well as at the EU level.

“These voluntary repatriations incentivized by monetary compensation are not a viable solution for our fellow Roma citizens wanting to return to Romania,” he stated during an interview with Romanian national television, TVR.

He underscored the urgent necessity for “funding, political resolve, bilateral and European discussions, and specific programs” aimed at improving the situation of the Roma community.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently added its voice to the chorus of criticism against France’s policy, warning that it could lead to the stigmatization of Roma and other traveling minorities.

“Linking the Roma and Travelers as a group to criminal acts based solely on isolated incidents can only exacerbate the stigma surrounding these communities,” remarked Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE’s human rights office.

This crackdown has also attracted criticism from a United Nations anti-racism panel, members of the European Parliament, the Vatican, and the human rights organization Amnesty International.

The legality of the policy is currently under review by the European Union.

On Monday, a federation representing Romanian Roma groups called for a Europe-wide boycott of French products and services in response to this clampdown.

France has convened a meeting with fellow European interior ministers in Paris on September 6 to discuss “asylum and illegal immigration.”

Romanian NGOs have urged “Roma brothers and sisters, as well as friends from all ethnic backgrounds and advocates for equality” to protest outside French embassies.

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