Romanian Gypsies in France

Since Romania entered in Europe in January 2007, a lot of Rom families arrive in France. They leave their country in order to have a normal life: a house, a job, school for children, access to medical care…First of all here is a big confusion between roms and “gens du voyage”, roms aren’t French, they don’t have the French nationality, what’s why they cannot use the French social welfare. “Gens du voyage” are French citizens who have a different lifestyle : they live in Mobil home and move from camps to camps. Here are some hosting area for them : French government builds areas where they can clean themselves, cook and also be allowed to stay for a while. Let’s now talking more about our main subject: roms people.
Why do they leave their country?
Most of them don’t work or when they have professional activity, it’s a very bad job like dustman or city cleaner. Bosses hire a lot less Gypsies than Romanians. Either they have an illegal job so they don’t benefit of social services and they have a very low salary or they work for the city but their working conditions are very difficult. On no account they have a lot of money, they don’t live but survive. In Romania, when somebody doesn’t have money, he can’t access to medical care.
In Romania, Gypsies are victims of discrimination from Romanians.
Indeed, Romanians don’t like Gypsies. They accuse them sometimes rightly but often wrongly to be thieves, dirty, idle, or stupid. Violent acts against Gypsies are, fortunately, rare enough, but nobody can deny that they don’t exist.
Romanian Gypsies are sedentary, they have houses and they don’t live in caravan like lot of people can think it but they don’t have money and they are obliged to live out of the way.
Because of all this disagreements, they decide to leave their country rather than trying to build their lives in this one. In this point of view, they have nothing to lose.
They decide to come in France where they hope to know a better life. Therefore they travel to france though Europe with families by bus. They buy caravan when they arrive in france. Caravans are easy to buy for them and it allows an easy staying. They got a homefrom then, but working in france is a bit complicated for them. French government makes difficulties to allow they working. They only can work illegly as workers on construction sites and area keeping (house keeping, baby sitting). These jobs don’t pay enough for surviving. In addition they must respect a list of job broadcast by the ministry of labour. This list doesn’t include all kind of jobs. For example, roms can not work as an engineer or a lawyer! Only “primary jobs” are allowed. Hence they must work on the black market to earn enough money to feed their families. That’s why roms are known to be robbers, because they can’t work as every one, they find other ways to make money. In addition, French government doesn’t cheer them up to stay in France. French state doesn’t want their staying on the French territory and doesn’t settle any hosting systems. Such is the sad destiny of the roms people, being expulsed to country from country and having no issue to find a proper land. What can we do in order to save rompeople? What does Europe to give a hand to these population? Roms are now European citizens like us. When governments would begin to recognize them as people and not animals? Is France racist? Is president Sarkozy out of solution for roms people in France?

There are no real projects done for this people. The main problem is that nobody wants them in their own country but they are European citizen, so they got to be allowed to move wherever they want inside the European Union.