EU chief accuses French minister of lying over Gipsies’ deportation

LONDON - European Union Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has accused French Minister for Immigration Eric Besson of lying over Gipsies’ deportation and comparing the government to Nazis.

French ministers have been accused of acting like Nazis by forcibly deporting gipsies.

Viviane Reding, the EU justice commissioner, branded the onslaught against the Roma people a ‘disgrace’, threatening huge fines, Mail Online reports.

It has been reported that on the orders of President Nicolas Sarkozy over the past one month, the riot police have razed some 100 camps and kicked out up to 1,000 men. he French minister claims the illegal settlements are breeding grounds for every type of criminal, from burglars to prostitutes.

Reacting to his comments, Justice Commissioner Reding said the expulsions did nothing, but ‘give the impression that people are being removed from a member state of the European Union just because they belong to an ethnic minority’.

“This is a situation that I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War,’ referring to France’s record in assisting Nazi Germany in their Holocaust against ‘undesirables’,” the paper quoted Reding, as saying.

Describing it as a disgrace, Reding said European Commission will have no choice but to initiate infringement procedures against France, which could result in large fines from the European Court of Justice, which sits in Luxembourg.

There are around 15,000 gipsies living around France, predominantly on the outskirts of major cities like Paris and Lyon. (ANI)