Scandalous French philosopher André Glucksmann demands that the European Union provide Roma with all conditions for free movement across Europe
The reason for this was a series of incidents – in particular, an attack by incoming Roma youth on police in the suburbs of Grenoble and riots caused by their fellow tribesmen who had settled in the Loire Valley in the center of the country. And then, by order of President Nicolas Sarkozy, about fifty camps of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma were closed, described by the head of state as "hotbeds of crime where prostitution and child labor exploitation flourish," after which the authorities began deporting their inhabitants.
Since mid-August, about a thousand non-French Roma have been expelled from the country (in total, since the beginning of 2010, France has deported over 8,000 of them, giving each, regardless of age, 300 euros and paying for their flight). But these government actions angered human rights activists, and the EU leadership doubted that such actions were in line with human rights principles.
And in vain did the French ministers of justice and of integration tirelessly explain to "the city and the world" that they were acting on the basis of European legislation, according to which citizens of one EU country are not entitled to live in the territory of another, including France, for more than three months if they do not have health insurance, work, or means of subsistence. Moreover, illegal Roma are a constant source of disorder and a burden on the social security system. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding believes that a decision on deportation can be taken "strictly on an individual basis, but not against an entire ethnic group."
And last week, scandalous French philosopher André Glucksmann spoke out against the "crusade against the Roma." "The Roma question is not related to social or police security," writes Glucksmann, a 73-year-old veteran of the May 1968 student riots in Paris, in the newspaper Le Monde. "Hatred of the Roma, reaching its peak in Eastern Europe, also exists in the West. Begging, unsanitary conditions, theft, stories about stolen children – rumors and rejection have long surrounded these people who live differently from us. By creating freedom of movement for all, the EU has revived these ancient fears.
The postmodern European boasts of having overcome taboos that limited his freedom, but he attacks the immigrant and is horrified by foreigners who traditionally and voluntarily engage in vagrancy. Since nomadic peoples are not recognized as having the right to a life in motion, they are not given the opportunity to move in dignified conditions, and they become victims of racism and xenophobia. Prosperous nations should carry out an intellectual revolution, recognizing the legitimacy of centuries-old pan-European nomadism and providing nomadic peoples with civilized living conditions," Glucksmann concludes.
The luxurious Empire-style house, in which Mr. Glucksmann occupies a spacious apartment, is located in one of the aristocratic quarters of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, where there are no Roma camps. The same can be said for the complex of buildings of the European Commission in Brussels, but not for the capital of Finland – on its streets, hundreds of immigrant Roma are now persistently begging. And the Finnish authorities are seriously considering measures that would allow them to be deported.
"Our legislation and EU legislation create the prerequisites on the basis of which we can expel EU citizens who have not registered as job seekers," said Finnish Interior Ministry State Secretary Antti Peltari to the Finnish broadcasting company YLE, also noting that over the past two years the number of beggars in Finland has increased fourfold. Incidentally, the French Interior Minister, explaining himself to the European Commissioners, appealed in particular to the fact that in Paris alone, crime among Romanian Roma has increased by 138% over the past two years.
So how does Germany react to these processes? As the influential Süddeutsche Zeitung writes, commenting on France's attempts to justify the deportation of Roma by legal norms, "in Germany, with its past, it is criminal even to think about such a thing."
Sergei DEBRER.
Russkaya Germaniya