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University of Groningen Europeans in-Between Klein, Lars ; Tamcke, Martin IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2012 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Klein, L., & Tamcke, M. (Eds.) (2012). Europeans in-Between: Identities in a (Trans-)Cultural Space. Euroculture consortium. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 30-09-2021 Does the EU really have polygamy of place? The Roma case Anuja Kelkar 1 Introduction The expulsion of Roma people from France in September 2010 brought to the fore the political reasoning behind the incident and the EU’s reaction to the prob- lem. Politicians in the European Union seem to be capitalising on the fear of in- creasing Roma immigration. Roma people are mostly not migrant workers but nomads who inhabit the outskirts of society and according to these politicians; they are seemingly escalating public security threats. Roma people do not easily assimilate into society due to their nomadic na- ture and unique culture. How the interconnectedness of immigration and political discourse affects them will be dealt with in this paper in order to highlight the need to address this issue if Europe is to be a polygamy of place in its true sense. The paper will thus focus on the Roma issue in the EU. Understanding where Roma people come from is explained in the second chapter. Their situation in France and other member states is expounded in the third chapter. Both these aspects are essential in understanding their current status as minorities who are not allowed to be true citizens of the EU and move freely within the borderless union. The paper will also look into the measures that the EU takes to answer these prob- lems in the fourth chapter and in conclusion, the polygamy of place that Europe wishes to embody will be put into question using the Roma example as a counter- argument. 102 Kelkar: Does the EU really have polygamy of place? 2 Roma in Europe Roma people have been an ethnic minority in Europe for centuries now. Also known as Gypsies, they came from the Indian subcontinent, migrating in the ninth and the fourteenth centuries.1 They are mostly travelers who sometimes settle down in camps, usually on the suburbs of towns with their own clan. France, for example, has approximately 15,000 Roma people, most of them from Eastern Europe, who are often seen camped out on the outskirts of villages and cities, and many make a meagre living as harvest hands.2 Figure 1: Roma Population around Europe, BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11027288 (accessed 20.04.2011). The Council of Europe estimates the number of Roma in Europe to be slightly more than 11 million, and precise data is extremely hard to furnish as Ro- ma people are afraid of authorities and can be reluctant to identify themselves as 1 Jean-Pierre Liégeois and Council of Europe, Roma in Europe (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2007), 18. 2 Jan Puhl, “A Desperate Homecoming for Deported Roma,” Spiegel Online, 31 August 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,714649,00.html (accessed 20 April 2011). Europeans In-Between: Identities in a (Trans-)Cultural Space 103 Roma, given the widespread stereotypes and attitudes against them.3 Annex 1 pro- vides the estimated Roma population in Europe in 2008. Roma history in Europe has been a history of alienation, persecution, and flight despite the fact that they have lived in Europe for centuries. “Roma are sub- jected to intolerance, prejudice and discrimination and their presence in Europe has been marked by centuries of persecution, slavery, extermination and assimila- tion policies. Modern societies continue to demonstrate growing anti-Gypsy feel- ings.”4 Roma people are essentially nomads, and this behaviour has continued into the modern times. The nomadic behaviour is explained by sociologist Jean-Pierre Liégeois as partly structural, arising from a certain type of social and economic organisation and a desire to travel, and partly reactive, due to external develop- ments like expulsions.5 The external developments may also include the anti-Gypsy sentiments reflected in national politics that this paper will investigate later. Stereotypes against Roma people are deeply embedded. Thought to be liars, cheats and thieves, Roma people are sometimes ironically blamed for the trouble they are in by leading human rights activists.6 An Independent editorial supported French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision of dismantling of Roma camps. If you are a French citizen, who has lived in France all your life, paid your taxes and woken up to find a third-world – let's use the word – encampment at the bottom of your garden, which expands every day. What are the authorities supposed to do? These are not travellers who buy a farmland plot and move on to it on a bank holiday weekend in breach of planning regulations; this is an incursion of an entirely dif- ferent order.7 These words portray what people think of Roma settlers. Whether these percep- tions are justified or not is beyond the scope of this paper, but the quote reflects on how Roma people are perceived by other European countries, as settlers who cannot be integrated easily. Such perceptions, coupled with political intentions to make the Roma people leave, can produce results as seen in France, which will be 3 Kristi Severance, “France's Expulsion of Roma Migrants: A Test Case for Europe,” Migration Information Source, October 2010, http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=803 (accessed 11 May 2011). 4 Council of Europe, “Defending Roma - Human rights in Europe,” leaflet on the website, http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/romatravellers/source/documents/defendingRomarights_en.pdf (ac- cessed 9 May 2011). 5 Liégeois and Council of Europe, Roma in Europe, 25. 6 James A. Goldston, “Roma Rights, Roma wrongs,” Foreign Affairs 81:2 (March-April, 2002): 146- 147. 7 Mary Dejevsky, “Sarkozy is right about the Roma,” The Independent, 3 September 2010, http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-dejevsky/mary-dejevsky-sarkozy-is- right-about-the-roma-2068991.html (accessed 5 April 2011). 104 Kelkar: Does the EU really have polygamy of place? explained in the next chapter. What needs to be understood is that these percep- tions work against Roma people and public support for them gets affected. 3 Roma people in the European Union In the EU, Roma people live in many member states. Their nomadic nature earns them many names like migrants, migrant-workers, asylum seekers, refugees etc.8 All these labels come with a certain type of negative image of people who do not seem to assimilate in society due to their distinct lifestyle. Estimates by the Council of Europe show that almost all EU countries have Roma communities of varying sizes. A noteworthy proportion of the population in Bulgaria (around ten percent), Slovakia (nine percent), Romania (eight percent), Hungary (seven percent), Greece, the Czech Republic and Spain (all countries one point five to two point five percent) is Roma.9 3.1 The Roma issue in France In July 2010, a young Roma was shot dead by the police in the region of Saint- Aignan in the Loire Valley. The immediate violent protests against the police were answered by tough measures from President Sarkozy. He issued a communiqué declaring the lawlessness that characterised the situation of the Roma population coming from Eastern Europe to France as unacceptable and that the government was going to dismantle 200 illegal Roma sites. These sites, he claimed, were causing “illicit trafficking, profoundly unfit living conditions, the exploitation of children for the purposes of begging, prostitution or crime.”10 Following the orders of the President, by the end of August, French author- ities said they had evacuated 128 settlements and sent back 979 Romanian and Bulgarian citizens with an irregular status.11 Brice Hortefeux, the Minister of Home Affairs, in order to justify the dismantling of Roma camps, said that there had been a 259% increase in the number of crimes committed by Romanians in France in 18 months. He further stated that “today, in Paris, the reality is that nearly one in five 8 Goldston, “Roma Rights, Roma wrongs,” 147. 9 European Union, “EU framework for national Roma strategies: Frequently asked questions,” MEMO /11/216, Strasbourg, 5 April 2011, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/216 (accessed 23 April 2011). 10 French government, “Communiqué faisant suite à la réunion ministérielle de ce jour sur la situation des gens du voyage et des Roms,” Elysée website, July 2010, http://www.elysee.fr/president/les- actualites/communiques-de-presse/2010/juillet/communique-faisant-suite-a-la-reunion.9381.html (accessed 22 April 2011).