The European Commission has decided to start an infringement procedure against France for violating EU law over the deportation of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma to their home countries.

This has been announced by EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviene Reding.

Reding has told the France 24 TV channel that the EU's executive body will launch infringement proceedings against France for breaching European rules on freedom of movement in its treatment of Roma travelers.

"France is not enforcing European law as it should on free movement, so we are launching an infringement process against France," the EU Commissioner declared.

She explained that the French authorities had not incorporated into the French legislation procedure guarantees for EU citizens included in the 2004 EC Directive on free movement of people within the Union.

Diplomatic sources from the EU Commission have made it clear that the decision made by the EC on Wednesday to start an infringement procedure against France on the Roma issue is a political one. Thus, the formal start of the legal measure should be expected in October but is still avoidable depending on the cooperation between the EC and the French government.

The Commission has technically decided that it will send a written order to France to transpose fully the 2004 Directive into its legislation, unless by October 15, 2010, it receives by Paris a draft project and a precise schedule for the incorporation of its provision, a communique of the EC explained.

Theoretically, the initiated infringement procedure could lead France to face the European Court of Justice but such an outcome is highly unlikely. In anticipation of such EC move, French President Sarkozy has already made it clear any omissions in the national legislation would be rectified.

It is still unclear how far the Union executive can go in scolding France for the expulsion of the Bulgarian and Romanian Roma, especially taking into account France’s position as one of the founding, and largest and most powerful EU members. With respect to the freedom of movement the Commission is considering a similar infringement procedure against several other EU member states.

France, however, appears to have avoided any action on part of the EU with respect to the other charge that it faced - the one of discrimination, a violation of the European charter on fundamental rights (the other one being the breaking EU rules on free movement.)

The Commission has not decided in favor of an infringement procedure against France on Roma discrimination charges. These expectations have been based on an administrative circular drafted by the French Interior Ministry on August 5, 2010, that asked local officials to come up with an order of importance of the Roma camps to be dismantled. Sarkozy revoked the circular in early September.

In an interview for Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), France's Ambassador to Bulgaria Etienne de Poncins explained the arguments of the French government for the expulsion of a number of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens as based on a violation of the right to stay in an EU country for only 90 days without providing evidence of stable employment and income.

A total of about one hundred Bulgarian Roma have been returned from France since July 1, 2010, while the number of expelled Romanian Roma is more than 1 000.

The European Commission met behind closed doors on Wednesday to decide on whether to initiate sanctions against France, after weeks of conflict with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the French government over the campaign that the French authorities began over the summer to crack down on the illegal camps of Roma squatters from Bulgaria and Romania.

"I personally have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a Member State of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority," Reding declared in mid September as the EU-wide “Roma deportation” scandal grew.

French President Sarkozy has responded to Reding’s criticism by saying that she should take the Roma to her home country Luxembourg.

The relations between Paris and the EC became so strained that Sarkozy and the EC head Barroso had a huge row during the meeting of the EU Council on September 15 – information leaked to European media by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

At the beginning of July, France began a high-profile campaign of dismantling large numbers of illegal Roma camps in a move announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The mass expulsions have drawn criticism from the international community, the Vatican and the UN, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Throughout September Sarkozy also faced opposition from the French Cabinet with Prime Minister Francois Fillon hinting he disliked the crude links being made between foreigners and crime, while Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he considered resigning over the issue.

The deportations saw 1 000 Roma returned to Romania and Bulgaria last month while 11 000 were expelled from France last year.

France insists the deportations do not contradict EU laws, including the free movement of people.

Under EU rules, the State can expel people who have been in the country for at least three months without a job and/or are deemed to be a threat to public safety and security.

The French government time and again demonstrated it is reluctant to style its actions as "deportation", saying that Roma people are leaving the country by mutual agreement and for a compensation (EUR 300 per adult, EUR 100 per child), and also retain the right to return whenever they might wish.

More details and developments of this story read in our "Bulgaria in EU" section.

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