Romanians in Rome

Two-thirds of those arrested for criminal offences in Rome since the beginning of the year are Romanian citizens. The mayor of Rome has now declared war on the Romanians in his city, while the Italian parliament is discussing the reintroduction of the visa requirement. Bogdan Chirieac is appalled: "The obsession of certain Italian politicians and the press with seeing all Romanians as criminals is in no way compatible with the spirit and values of the EU. There are currently two million Romanians living in Italy, the majority of whom work hard to maintain themselves and their families. The newspapers of the Italian Peninsula are full of reports about Romanian gypsies allegedly committing terrible crimes. ... But convictions and mass deportations won't solve the problem. ... Since the visa requirement was abolished for Romanian citizens on January 1, 2002, the Romanian Roma have become a pan-European problem."

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