Precisament quan m'estava preparant la intervenció per aquest vespre en relació a la Pregunta oral sobre les Bases de dades relacionades amb l'origen racial i ètnic a la UE (debat que començarà al PE al voltant les 23.00), m'ha arribat la noticia que, finalment, la Comissió Europea renuncia a a obrir expedient d'infracció per les expulsions de gitanos romanesos i búlgars. I serà així per què la Comissària Reding considera 'suficients' les garanties aportades per Parísalhora de modificar la seva normativa nacional i adaptar-se a la legislació de la UE tal i com estableixi la Directiva de 2004 sobre lliure circulació de persones dins la UE. Des del grup Verds ALE hem hagut de reaccionar, i ho hem fet en els termes següents:

Press relelease - 19 October 2010

Roma expulsions
France must not be let off hook for discrimination of Roma

The European Commission today announced that it would no longer pursue an infringement procedure against Franceover its non-implementation of the free movement directive (1). The Greens expressed concern that the Commission could let Franceoff the hook over its opprobrious collective expulsion of the Roma community, and called on the Commission to launch an infringement procedure on the core issue of discrimination. Following the announcement, French Green MEP Hélène Flautre said:

“The Commission must not simply back down and meekly crawl back to its corner on the issue of collective Roma expulsions in France. With ever more evidence emerging that the French authorities were clearly targeting the Roma minority, Francemust not be let off the hook.

"The Commission should have launched infringement proceedings against Franceon the basis of discrimination in the first place, and not simply on the grounds of free movement legislation. Given there is now further evidence that France's opprobrious collective expulsions were deliberate discrimination, following reports that the police used ethnic databases, the Commission cannot continue to sit on its hands. An infringement procedure against Francefor non-compliance with EU rules on non-discrimination (as set out in the Charter for Fundamental Rights) should be launched without delay."

Spanish Green MEP Raül Romevaadded: 

"It is also now clear that Franceis far from alone in pursuing discriminatory policies against the Roma minority, with other countries, like Italy, using ethnic databases and pursuing collective expulsions of the Roma. The Commission, as the guardian of the European treaties, cannot turn a blind eye to these serious infringements. It must launch infringement procedures against Franceand other member states that flout EU rules on non-discrimination."

(1) Announcement by Viviane Reding available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/502&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

* The European Parliament will discuss the question of the Roma and ethnic databases this evening with the European Commission.