BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - The European Union on Wednesday threatened to sue France over its expulsion of Roma, or Gypsies, saying that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government probably breached E.U. rules on the free movement of citizens.
The European Commission started infringement proceedings over France's expulsion this year of more than 1,000 Roma back to Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined the E.U. in 2007.
"We have opened a procedure of infraction against France," Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Wednesday. "It's a question of if there has been discrimination."
The commission, the 27-nation E.U.'s regulatory arm, decided to send the French government a letter of formal notice, the first step in a process that could lead to a complaint at the E.U. court.
France will conduct "a detailed analysis of the commission's letter," said a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, who cannot be named according to ministry rules.
Sarkozy has defended the expulsions as part of an overall crackdown on illegal immigration and crime.
France's treatment of Roma -- members of an ethnic minority who are E.U. citizens -- rose to the top of the European political agenda in mid-September when Reding compared the expulsions to events during World War II. The European Parliament, the Catholic Church and newspapers including Le Monde, the Financial Times and the New York Times have denounced the policy.
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