Don't lump everyone together

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared a "war on criminality". But by failing to distinguish between population groups he is stigmatising both the French and the European Roma, warns the daily Le Monde: "Sarkozy's mistake isn't to declare 'war' on criminality at a time when insecurity is on the rise, but to lump everyone together. As the guardian of national and social cohesion, it is not fitting for the head of state to blame the entire population of French Roma for a problem sparked off by just one among them. Of the more than 400,000 travellers counted by census in France, 95% are French and two thirds of them have fixed abodes. As for the Roma ... who form a minority, these are not only migrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Romania and Bulgaria. They form a heterogenous population that has been tossed about from one EU country to the next. ... By confusing things in this way the government is opening the door for chimeras and prejudices."

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