France, September 17: French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a furious rant at an EU trade summit on Thursday over France’s expulsion of Roma gypsies.
Sarkozy said he could not allow France to be insulted after EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding compared France’s actions with Nazi persecution.The row erupted after EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding branded the French policy a ‘disgrace’ and called for legal action.President Sarkozy says the expulsions are a matter of security and that the European Commission should come up with Europe-wide solutions rather than criticising France. He said there had been no expulsions based on ethnicity.
He confronted Commission President Manuel Barrosso at lunch, saying: “It is outrageous that I have to defend the honour of France.”
And he insisted there were no illegal expulsions based on ethnicity. Fellow commissioners backed Reding calling France a “disgrace” but cooled on comparisons with the Second World War.
Barroso’s spokesman later insisted “Sarkozy has a case to answer”. He said commissioners were still considering legal action against France.
President Sarkozy was unrepentant yesterday and vowed to continue dismantling illegal immigrant camps. He said 199 camps, containing 5,400 people, had been dismantled.
—-Agencies