1. Hertie
School
of
Governance
Class
U5
Law
and
Governance
Convenor
Professor
Dr.
Nico
Krisch
Student
Steven
Lauwers
Date
11.10.2010
DOES
THE
FRENCH
GOVERNMENT’S
DEPORTATION
OF
ROMA
VIOLATE
THE
LAW
OF
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION?
Introduction
As
a
member
state
of
the
European
Union
(‘EU’),
France
needs
to
comply
with
EU
law.
I
will
first
assess
if
the
Roma
do
indeed
have
the
right
to
reside
in
France
as
to
be
able
to
determine
possible
legal
grounds
for
expulsion.
I
will
then
go
on
to
look
at
relevant
EU
laws
that
France
may
have
broken
with
the
expulsion
of
Roma.
It
is
also
important
to
note
that
France
has
failed
to
transpose
the
procedural
and
substantive
guarantees
under
the
Directive
2004/38/EC
(‘Free
Movement
Directive’)
into
national
law,
which
each
Member
State
is
obliged
to
do.
This
does
not
mean
that
France
does
not
have
to
respect
the
Free
Movement
Directive,
but
that
France
can
be
sanctioned
for
not
transposing
the
Directive
into
national
law,
which
is
its
obligations
as
a
Member
State.
Residence
in
France
“The
right
of
every
EU
citizen
to
free
movement
within
the
Union
is
one
of
the
fundamental
principles
of
the
EU.
(…).”
1
According
to
the
Free
Movement
Directive
“Citizenship
of
the
Union
confers
on
every
citizen
of
the
Union
a
primary
and
individual
right
to
move
and
reside
freely
within
the
territory
of
the
Member
States,
subject
to
the
limitations
and
conditions
laid
down
in
the
Treaty
and
to
the
measures
adopted
to
give
it
effect.”
Article
17(1)
defines
EU
citizenship
as
“Every
person
holding
the
nationality
of
a
Member
State
shall
be
a
citizen
of
the
Union”.
As
Bulgaria
and
Romania,
the
country
of
residence
of
the
Roma
that
were
subject
of
France’s
expulsion,
joined
the
EU
in
2007,
they
are
EU
citizens
and
European
law
needs
to
be
The
right
of
residence
however
is
not
unconditional,
as
stated
in
Article
7
of
the
Free
Movement
Directive.
After
a
period
of
three
months,
the
resident
needs
to
prove
s/he
is
a
worker
or
self-­‐
employed
person
in
the
host
Member
State
or
should
be
able
to
support
him/herself
and
his/her
family
as
not
to
become
a
(financial)
burden
of
the
host
Member
State.
This
proves
the
Roma
had
the
right
to
freely
reside
in
France
for
3
months.
After
a
period
of
3
months,
France
has
a
legal
ground
to
ask
the
Roma
to
leave,
which
I
will
elaborate
below.
Grounds
for
expulsion
If
France
can
prove
certain
people
have
lived
in
France
for
more
than
three
months
and
do
not
meet
the
requirements
given
in
Article
7
of
the
Free
Movement
Directive,
this
constitutes
a
legal
ground
for
expulsion.
As
new
EU
members,
nationals
of
Bulgaria
and
Romania
face
temporary
restrictions
on
working
in
France
during
the
second
transitional
period
of
the
Treaty
of
Accession
that
ends
on
31
December
2011.
Until
then,
they
still
have
to
meet
the
work
permit
requirements
that
applied
before
they
joined
the
EU.
In
case
they
do
not
meet
these
after
3
months
of
residence
in
the
host
country,
the
host
country
has
the
right
to
ask
them
to
leave.
The
first
important
thing
to
determine
is
the
length
of
time
the
Roma
have
lived
in
France.
The
period
of
residence
on
the
expulsion
documents
handed
out
by
the
French
government
is
marked
as
unknown.
As
France
cannot
and
did
not
provide
evidence
as
proof
of
the
period
of
residence
for
each
individual
person,
the
main
reason
France
gave
for
the
expulsion
is
a
violation
of
Article
6
of
the
Free
Movement
Directive.
Article
27
of
the
Free
Movement
Directive
gives
Member
States
the
option
to
restrict
the
freedom
of
movement
of
EU
citizens
on
grounds
of
public
policy,
public
security
or
public
health.
France
1
IP/10/1207:
EC
press
release.
1

2. claimed
–
and
still
does
–
that
the
expulsion
was
aimed
at
dismantling
the
illegal
camps
based
on
the
significant
rise
of
criminality
since
the
installation
of
these
camps.
This
still
has
to
be
proven
by
France
on
an
individual
basis,
which
France
has
failed
to
do
so
far.
It
is
also
clear
that
these
expulsions
were
based
on
ethnic
discrimination
and
not
on
public
security.
Discrimination
of
this
particular
group
has
been
ever-­‐present
in
French
policy.
This
was
shown
again
in
a
Circular
from
the
French
Interior
Ministry,
asking
for
eviction
of
“camps
illicites,
en
priorité
ceux
de
Roms”
2,
clearly
asking
to
give
priority
to
Roma
in
the
eviction
and
expulsion
operations.
By
singling
out
this
group,
the
French
government
is
targeting
an
ethnic
group,
which
is
discriminatory
and
violates
Article
21
of
the
European
Charter
of
Fundamental
Rights
(‘EU
Charter’).
Non-­‐discrimination
is
also
reflected
in
Directive
2004/38/EC.
Expulsion
Article
19
of
the
EU
Charter
and
Article
4
of
Protocol
4
of
the
European
Convention
on
Human
Rights
(‘ECHR’)
protect
EU
citizens
from
mass
expulsion.
Even
if
France
would
be
able
to
argue
the
expulsion
was
legally
justified,
the
way
the
expulsion
was
executed
cannot
be
justified.
In
the
case
of
Čonka
vs
Belgium,
the
European
Court
of
Human
Rights
judged
“the
expression
‘collective
expulsion’
must
be
understood
as
meaning
any
collective
implementation
of
‘expulsion
measures’
”.
The
decisions
taken
by
the
court
in
Čonka
vs
Belgium
on
the
procedure
of
the
expulsion
can
be
used
as
a
precedent
to
find
violations
of
the
above-­‐mentioned
EU
laws
in
the
case
at
hand.
Conclusion
We
have
established
that
France
has
violated
several
EU
laws
by
undertaking
actions
targeted
at
a
minority
group,
the
Roma.
The
European
Commission
needs
to
uphold
the
EU
Charter
as
well
as
the
ECHR
and
provide
a
clear
reference
case
for
other,
ongoing
Roma
discriminations
in
Europe
by
acknowledging
and
sanctioning
the
violation
of
EU
laws
and
the
failure
of
France
to
transpose
the
Free
Movement
Directive
into
national
law.
Word
count:
939
Sources
Access
to
European
Law.
http://eur-­‐lex.europa.eu.
Circulaire
du
Ministre
de
l’Intérieur,
de
l’outre-­‐Mer
et
des
collectivités
territoriales.
05.08.2010
Subjet
:
Evacuation
des
campements
illicites.
09.10.2010
European
Commission.
29.09.2010
IP/10/1207:
European
Commission
assesses
recent
developments
in
France,
discusses
overall
situation
of
the
Roma
and
EU
law
on
free
movement
of
EU
citizens.
01.10.2010
European
Court
of
Human
Rights.
05.02.2002.
Case
of
Čonka
vs
Belgium.
European
Roma
Right
Centre.
28.09.2010.
Submission
of
legal
briefing
to
the
European
Commission.
http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=3715.
06.10.2010
Georgiev,
V.
Internet.
23.08.2010
EU
law
blog.
Expelling
the
Roma:
Is
it
legal?
http://eulaw.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/expelling-­‐the-­‐roma-­‐is-­‐it-­‐legal.
05.10.2010
Lichfield,
John.
Brussels
blinks
in
legal
row
with
Sarkozy
over
Roma
expulsion.
30.09.2010.
The
Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brussels-­‐blinks-­‐in-­‐legal-­‐
row-­‐with-­‐sarkozy-­‐over-­‐roma-­‐expulsion-­‐2093503.html.
04.10.2010
2
Circulaire
du
Ministre
de
l’Intérieur,
de
l’outre-­Mer
et
des
collectivités
territoriales.
2