The European Commission announced it will launch an investigation into whether France is complying with EU repatriation laws by deporting Roma to Bulgaria and Romania.

"It is clear that those who break the law need to face consequences," EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement. "It is equally clear that nobody should face expulsion just for being Roma."

Reding said her office was analyzing the situation in France to determine whether the repatriation complied with EU laws on free movement of people.

She also said she regretted "that some of the rhetoric that has been used in some Member States in the past weeks has been openly discriminatory and inflammatory."

The Commission's findings will be released next week.

France has faced international criticism since it began dismantling Roma camps and sending ethnic Roma back to Bulgaria and Romania, saying they lived illegally in France.

The second group of 13 Bulgarian Roma deported from France landed at Sofia airport Wednesday evening.

The first group of 13 arrived last Friday, and some media reported they have been ethnic Turks not Roma, but these reports remain unconfirmed. A total of 41 are expected to come back.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Vesela Cherneva, announced the deportation would not interfere with Bulgaria’s entry in the Schengen zone. She informed that another group of 9 is scheduled to arrive on September 10, and another 15 on September 17, but the total number would not exceed 50.

All Bulgarian citizens, who agree to return home, receive EUR 300 from the French government (EUR 100 for children) as social assistance.