Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in France

Summary:

Because of its political tradition, the French Republic does not recognise ethnic minorities. Based on this point alone, there should not exist any inclusion policy regarding Roma in France. This position is often stated as such by French officials, however they do mention social inclusion policies for particular groups, namely the “gens du voyage”, (i.e. people whose real or supposed traditional dwelling place is mobile) and EU citizens living in slums and squats, who during the last three decades have been considered as “Roma” and who still now are referred to as “migrant Roma”, although this is considered an abuse of language officially

Taking good account of this situation, the present report monitors the policies towards the “gens du voyage” and that on “slums” only. In doing so, this report responds to the need of improvement of these policies and there is no real inadequacy or misfitting of the groups referred to by the EU Framework for National Roma Inclusion Strategies 2011 on one hand and the ones referred to by French public policies of inclusion of “gens du voyage” and the EU citizens living in slums or squats. In accepting policies too, “Roma” are not conceived of as a cultural or ethnic entity but as an ethnically diverse group formed by a common history of marginalisation.

The very EC’s summary sheet “The European Social Fund and Roma”, published a few months before the adoption of the EU Framework, specifies in this way its scope: “While recognising the specific cultural identities of all Roma, the EU institutions use “Roma” as an umbrella term that also incorporates other groups of people who share more or less similar cultural characteristics and a history of marginalisation in European societies, such as Sinti, Travellers, Ashkali, Camminanti, etc.” The adoption of the EU Framework made possible the use of EU Funds technically for French policies on “gens du voyage” and “EU-mobile Roma”. However, one can say that these funds were not used enough, both because of a lack of will and because of the difficulty and complexity of accessing and managing them.

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