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SP: French policy no answer to Roma question

20 September 2010

SP: French policy no answer to Roma question

The SP’s European Parliament group is calling for a structural approach to the Roma question. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says that ‘what France is doing is not permissible. A whole population group is being deported. This is discrimination and must be immediately stopped. The problems involved must be tackled at source, by which I mean in the country of origin.’

Dennis de Jong
Condemnation
The European Parliament last week, with the support of the SP, strongly condemned the deportations. On a Dutch radio programme broadcast yesterday, De Jong noted that the Roma are not simply pitiful victims: “children often don’t attend school and Roma people can indeed cause inconvenience, but expulsion is not a structural solution.”

Solutions
The SP therefore proposes that countries such as Romania invest in education, housing and employment, which De Jong argues could be supported from the €3 billion of European money set aside each year for funds for minority groups. He does, however, add an important proviso, that “the hundreds of millions going to Romania must be properly monitored, and every Euro well spent rather than going straight into the pockets of corrupt politicians and officials.”

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