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Italian Roma crackdown causes rift in Parliament

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20-05-2008 (updated: 28-05-2012 )

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In a last-minute change to its agenda, the European Parliament has invited the Commission to speak on the situation of Roma in Europe. Today’s debate is expected to highlight a clash of opinions between the plenary’s two major political groups.

The ongoing conflict between Romania and Italy over the crackdown on Roma camps in the peninsula prompted the Socialist Group in the European Parliament (PES) to request that the item be included on the agenda of the plenary session today (20 May). 

PES leader Martin Schultz added that the debate should be enlarged to include the general situation of Roma across Europe. The Socialists have also asked the Commision to inform Parliament of ongoing efforts to improve the living conditions of Roma and its plans to dealing with the issues affecting them. 

The centre-right EPP-ED Group reacted negatively to the proposal, stating that such a debate should rather take place in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. But with the support of the Green and Liberal (ALDE) political groups, the PES proposal was adopted by 106 votes in favour and 100 against. 

Since the Berlusconi government took office earlier this month, Romania’s opposition Social Democratic Party has spearheaded Bucharest’s concern over the fate of Romanians in Italy and their “diabolisation”. Romania fears that the new Italian government, with a Minister of the Interior from the anti-immigrant Northern League party, will engage in measures leading to a backlash against law-abiding Romanians. 

Romanian authorities are also concerned about press reports of Berlusconi’s plans to re-establish border controls for travellers from the EU’s Schengen passport-free zone, as well as to make illegal immigration a crime punishable by up to four years in jail. 

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Positions

While, for now, the European Commission has stopped short of criticising Italy, the Romanian Commissioner for Multilingualism Leonard Orban recently blamed Italy in an interview for not made having sufficient use of European social funds to integrating the Roma. He said Italy has used less funding than other countries concerned, spending only €3.2 million on integration projects, compared to €4.4 in the Czech Republic and €7.5 million in Poland. 

Although it faces a similar situation with immigrant Roma, Spain has also criticised Italy over its crackdown on Roma settlements and expulsions. "The government rejects violence, racism and xenophobia and does not support what is happening in Italy," said Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said. She added that Spain does "not support the policy of expulsions without respect for the law and rights, or actions which exalt violence, racism and xenophobia". 

The OSCE's Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights also expressed concern over the recent attacks on Roma camps in Italy. 

Background

According to the National Statistics Institute of Italy, some 196,000 Romanians work legally on the peninsula, but Italian authorities estimate that some 342,000 Romanians live in Italy. The estimate by Caritas, an NGO, is even higher – 556,000. 

Some 160,000 Roma are estimated to live in Italy, 70,000 of whom are Italian nationals. The rest are immigrants from Eastern Europe, mainly from Romania (roughly 60,000), according to the NGO Opera Nomadi. 

Resentment towards Roma grew after the establishment of many illegal camps. Some camps outside Naples were even torched by locals. 

To address the issue, in November 2007 the Italian government issued a decree allowing the deportation of migrants from other EU countries if they are considered a "threat to public safety" (EURACTIV 16/11/07).

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