mr president the critical issues for this parliament are the core issues of poverty and social exclusion of the roma and we will take our responsibilities seriously
but no one is in any doubt that the reason we are here today in this chamber and that the commissioners are here present with the council is to find out what the commission the guardian of the treaties thinks of the french collective action as mrs reding said against the roma
now if it is the case that she wishes to delay and tell us at a later stage that is fine
but we are here to understand commissioner not just whether you will enforce your decision but what that decision is
if there is a weak and confused response as to whether there has been collective punishment the words that you used or whether there has been action on a case-by-case basis which is required under the eu free movement directives then we need to know this
we look to you for that answer
when we have that answer we will be in a position where we understand that other countries may not use as a precedent the collective punishment of an ethnic minority one of the biggest in the european union
this is a critical factor for us today and i ask you to be more specific to be a guardian of the treaties
only then can we move on to the roma strategy which everyone in this parliament seems to want to have which is to cure the core problems that lead to the export of poverty and social exclusion issues across the eu
but today we are talking about expulsions
we believe they are illegal and we believe you have delivered a weak and confused response
be more specific
be a guardian of the treaties
