France: Reject Anti-Roma Bill
Baku, September 27 (AZERTAC). The French parliament should reject measures in an omnibus immigration bill that appear to target Roma and weaken migrants rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The National Assembly is due to begin debating the government-sponsored bill on September 28, 2010.
The bill, whose ostensible purpose is to transpose three European Union directives, contains last-minute government amendments that would widen the grounds for expelling EU citizens to include abusing France`s welfare system, profiting from begging by others, and abusive occupation of land. The timing and focus of the amendments, and statements by government ministers, strongly suggest that the measure is aimed at the Roma.
"It is shocking that the French government is pushing for measures that clearly target Roma at a time when the European Commission is threatening legal action over France`s expulsion of Roma this summer," said Judith Sunderland, senior researcher on Western Europe at Human Rights Watch. "It smacks of a populist move at the expense of the most discriminated against and vulnerable people in Europe today."
As drafted, the bill would make it possible to expel EU citizens whose stay in France constitutes "an abuse of rights," such as those who renew three-month stays for the purpose of staying in France even though they do not fulfill the requirements for long-term stay, and those who stay in France with the purpose of benefitting from the welfare system, particularly emergency housing. The measure would be applicable to EU citizens in France for less than three months.
Immigration Minister Eric Besson announced the last-minute amendments during an August 30 press conference in which Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux made a point of singling out an increase in crimes committed by Romanians in Paris over the last year and a half. Claiming the government was not stigmatizing any particular group, Hortefeux said "any citizen can see [the reality]...of women and children spending entire days begging in appalling conditions in order to take their haul to the people who are exploiting them."
Under EU freedom of movement regulations, EU citizens may stay in another EU country for up to three months without conditions. Long-term stay requires that individuals are employed, self-employed, or have sufficient means to support themselves without becoming a burden on the host country`s welfare system. But the main 2004 EU directive on freedom of movement explicitly states that expulsion should not be the "automatic consequence of...recourse to the social assistance system of the host Member State."
The bill would also expand powers to expel foreigners deemed to pose a threat to public order, including those liable to prosecution for certain crimes, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, profiting from prostitution by others, exploitation of begging, certain kinds of aggravated theft, and abusive occupation of land under the terms of a 2000 law regulating sites for gens de voyage (the French community known as "travelers").
The EU law on freedom of movement allows removal of EU citizens who represent a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." This high threshold has been confirmed by the European Court of Justice. In late August, a court in Lille rejected the French government`s argument that living in an unauthorized settlement justified expulsion on public security grounds.
The European Commission is expected to decide soon whether France violated EU laws on freedom of movement and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. There are serious concerns that the removals, many of which the government claims were "voluntary" upon cash payments, did not respect procedural safeguards, including the requirement to assess the individual`s personal circumstances, the proportionality of an expulsion order, and the ability to challenge the decision in court. The bill before Parliament does not explicitly require authorities to conduct such assessments when determining to remove an EU citizen.
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