The French government is “astonished” by the comments made by Viviane Reding, European justice commissioner, about France’s treatment of Roma, a government spokesman said today.

Speaking after Reding said France’s behaviour was a “disgrace” and that the European Commission would launch infringement proceedings against the country, Bernard Valero, a spokesman for Bernard Kouchner, France’s foreign minister, said: “We were astonished to learn of Mrs Reding’s declarations”. He said that this type of declaration would not make it possible to improve the situation of the Roma which was “at the heart of the government’s concern and action”.

Not time for ‘polemics’

Valero told a press conference in Paris “it was not the right time for polemics” but rather to work for the benefit of the Roma population. He said that the French government was working “in this spirit” very closely with the government in Bucharest.

On Tuesday, Reding said that the Commission would have “no choice” but to launch infringement proceedings against the French government for its expulsion of Roma. She said that the French authorities were failing to respect EU law on the free movement of persons and were discriminating against one part of the population on the basis of their ethnic origins.

Reding said she was “appalled” by the apparent discriminatory treatment of Roma. She also criticised French ministers for giving her assurances that the expulsion of illegal immigrants was not targeting specific ethnic groups while a leaked interior ministry memo contradicted what they were saying. Reding made a comparison between the expulsion campaign in France and the persecution of Jews and other ethnic groups during the Second World War.