Interview: French policy of expelling migrants breaks European values into pieces: Bulgarian Roma ac

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Interview: French policy of expelling migrants breaks European values into pieces: Bulgarian Roma activist

07:58, September 19, 2010      

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The French policy of expelling Roma migrants is breaking into pieces the European values in front of their eyes, said Bulgarian Roma activist Rumyan Russinov in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"Europe was established on the fundamental principle of free movement of goods, people and capitals but at the moment this fundamental principle is put under a big question,"said Russinov, director of the Public Policy Advocacy Center.

Even France that raised the principle of freedom, equality and fraternity during the Revolution is breaking it now with these actions, Russinov added.

Although he was "really worried that Europe is in a very complicated situation," he expressed optimism that the European idea is very good, very powerful idea and "it must go on."

Commenting the statements that France's repatriation of Roma can be compared to the expulsion of the Jews and the Roma during the World War II, Russinov said that, unfortunately there is a reason and arguments to make a parallel between them.

He emphasized that the current "scandal" is related to people that are innocent and they are repatriated only because they are Roma.

According to Russinov, it is obvious that the French government tries to find any reason to point out these people as violating the laws, and as criminals.

On the other hand, Russinov insisted that the people repatriated in the first and in the second wave were working people who never committed any crimes despite the fact that some of them, not being registered by their employers, have been working illegally. "But this is more applicable to their French employers than themselves, and it must be clear that these people go there looking for a job," the Roma activist said.

Russinov also was afraid that there is an anti-Roma wave, anti- Roma speaking and anti-Roma thinking coming up in the West European countries.

"We can put this question in some wider context -- as reinforced anti-immigrant attitude because there are immigrants from different developing countries,"he said.

Russinov pointed out that the Roma issue came from the French internal political context."Sarkozy needed a strong push for his pre-election campaign, and the victim was carefully determined -- the Roma, the weakest point,"he said, adding "This point has a potential to produce more significant effect so Sarkozy will get bigger support in France."

Russinov said that the West European countries have unclear and dual attitude towards the minority groups. According to him, from one hand the minority groups go there and do the job that the Western people find disgusting: do the dishes, being servants, chambermaids and so on.

"From the other hand, in a moment it happens that these working people are unwanted in these countries,"Russinov said." We find it extremely unfair that Roma are singled out and expelled only because they are Roma."

When asking about the Roma people if they would return after being expelled, Russinov said that in Bulgaria these people live in dire conditions and many of them are not hired because of their Roma origin.

Unemployment is the most serious problem to Russinov. He said that during the communism era in Bulgaria 95 percent of the Roma had a job but after the political changes in 1989 the Bulgarian economy was destroyed and many of these people, being low qualified, lost their job. Therefore many of these people went to the West, in the developed countries, looking for a job.

"These people have the right to work and to feed their families, and when they have not a job here, it's normal to look for it in some developed countries where there is a lack of low- qualified manpower," Russinov said.

According to Russinov, the Roma expulsion from France shows also that the level of discrimination in the Western Europe is at least as high as it is in the Eastern Europe, even higher.

Russinov also said that the level of Roma integration in Bulgaria is significantly higher than it is in the Western Europe. For example, almost half of the about 800,000 Roma people in Bulgaria, live in integrated conditions, in the same buildings where the Bulgarians live, and Roma people live the way that the rest of the people in the country live, Russinov said.

According to him, the real problem are the people living in the Roma quarters but even there it is possible to do the things the right way if there is a normal state policy concerning the infrastructure and, when it is needed, to help them with housing.

The most efforts should be put on a policy of integration in the education, Russinov said. "When a child is integrated in the educational system, it becomes a thinking and responsible citizen in the future, and after that almost no efforts are needed for him to be integrated as a part of the society,"the activist said.

In addition, Russinov hopes that this scandal will push the European Commission to play more active role to form the political will of the governments from the West and East Europe, for the Roma integration in the society. According to him, there is no political will and awareness of the importance of this issue yet.

Source: Xinhua

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