The expulsion of the Gypsies from France is a test on the EU's diplomatic and legal levels. Unfortunately (and perhaps consequently) the issue was brought up in a period of crisis, unsurprisingly marked by low tolerance.
Even though this expulsion is based on ethnicity, it differs from prior ethnic expulsions in Europe involving Jews: in 1290 they were expelled from England, in 1349 from France, in 1492 from Spain, in 1497 from Portugal, and more recently in the late 1930s and early 1940s from Germany. On average they were more skilled than the local population (knowing how to read and write in the Middle Ages was a big advantage) and often they were forbidden to own land. As a consequence Jews were barred form agricultural activities and found better paid jobs as notaries, merchants or moneylenders.
The Gypsies, on the contrary have no particular skills of use to the current European society. A large chunk is not even alphabetized. They are not being expelled for stealing good jobs to the average French, but because they allegedly get involved in petty crime, which in times of crises is on the rise regardless, therefore the connection of Gypsies to crime is hard to prove. In any case, is the expulsion a solution? Beyond the likely embedded illegality of the whole operation, the open borders policy of the EU makes the €300 French subsidy a paid trip home, where the incentives are in place for a quick return to the West. Perhaps that same money could be spent on programs that facilitated the integration of a community whose social isolation results from centuries of segregation.
The two page article of the Times illustrates the situation while also providing some historical perspective. Here are a few excerpts:
(...)
There is little reliable data on the Roma population. Originally from India, the Roma were virtual slaves until the 19th century, working for aristocrats and in monasteries.
When democracy took hold, they were freed. But they were landless, uneducated and dark-skinned, and they had few prospects.
(...)
Experts say the Roma population has been battered by a combination of factors. Crafts that once sustained them, such as making brass pots and shoeing horses, are now obsolete. Recent European regulations standardizing the sale of livestock pushed them out of one of their few remaining businesses because they could not handle the required paperwork.
Some aspects of Gypsy culture have not helped matters, experts say. It is a clannish, strongly patriarchal society where youngsters are pushed into early marriage and education has not been much valued.
(...)
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