POLITICS-ROMANIA: Headed for Europe Before Time

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Marian Chiriac

BUCHAREST, Sep 5 2002 (IPS) - Tanase Lazar decided to head for France from his small town in southern Romania after visa rules were relaxed in January this year.

“We had heard that in France you can earn 600 dollars a month just by begging or working unofficially,” he says. He made it to Paris through a network that sends disabled people to beg. He was caught by the police and sent back to Romania.

Lazar is among more than 300 Romanians sent back from France over the past six months. About 4,000 Romanians have been sent back from Spain, Italy and the Nordic countries.

Officials from the European Union (EU) have expressed concern over the rising number of Romanians being sent into the EU by human trafficking gangs. Romanian officials have stepped up measures against traffickers and have begun to co-operate more closely with EU law enforcement officials.

Last week French and Romanian officials signed two agreements to clamp down on illegal migrants who commit crimes in France. The two countries agreed tougher border security, and moves to seize the assets of criminals.

The French government pledged support measures for the refugees sent back to Romania. The two countries also agreed measures for repatriation of about 2,000 Romanian children in France.

Romania has earlier set up a joint intelligence unit with Britain to prevent smuggling of people. The unit based in Bucharest is staffed by a British police officer, an immigration officer, and eight Romanian investigators. The British have joint intelligence units in several countries to tackle trade in drugs; this is the first to tackle trade in people.

Romanian officials are worried that export of crime from Romania will damage the country’s image as it seeks to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the EU. “If necessary measures are not taken immediately, we’ll soon see an outpouring of hostile public opinion in Europe, where criminal networks threaten to be identified with the very image of Romania,” says Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.

Romanian authorities have strengthened the southern and eastern borders, and imposed strict conditions for travel, including proof of funds amounting to about 100 dollars per person per day of the trip.

In the first eight months of this year more than 200,000 people were barred from travelling to the EU because they did not meet the necessary conditions, according to official information. The number of Romanians visiting the EU dropped about 20 per cent this year. But travel restrictions to not apply to organised gangs who beat the legal route.

Interior Minister Ioan Rus says crimes committed by Romanians abroad are less serious and less frequent than those committed by others. “Romanians are ranked below the first ten countries of origin for foreign criminals in EU countries,” he says. “But petty crime such as aggressive begging is more visible and irritating for the Western public.”

Romania is one of Europe’s poorest states. The slow pace of reforms has kept the average wage around 100 dollars a month.