Romania's fit of multiculturalism hampers integration

France began on Thursday with the deportation of Roma to Romania. The conservative daily România Liberă examines the reasons for their failed integration in Romania: "We too are defending the cultural identity of the Gypsies in a feeble bout of multiculturalism. The authorities in Bucharest, first and foremost head of state Băsescu, talked of the 'nomadic' character of the Gypsy culture and of the injustice of collective solutions. But this is precisely the reason why the integration programmes don't work. It's simply not enough to reserve a couple of university places [for Roma], to finance social housing for them and organise a couple of dozen imposing seminars per year. Integrating these people is not about the idea of cultivating the pleasures of the 'nomadic' cultures but about changing them, as scandalous as that may sound. Multiculturalism is nothing but a monstrous intellectual sham which has nothing to do with 'tolerance' or 'openness' but does plenty to undermine one's own culture."

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