When in Rome (I)

The newly relaunched Commission website for Franco Frattini, European commissioner for justice, freedom and security, announces that he is “the Vice President of the European Commission”, glossing over the existence of four other Commission vice-presidents. The main new feature on the website is a “Thought of the Week” section. Last week Frattini wrote about integration in cities. “When we neglect to protect the security of citizens of all colours, it is in particular that of the foreigners that we put in jeopardy as they run the risk of generalisation and of a completely negative image,” he said. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, published a few days earlier, he commented on a law in Italy to expel Romanians. “What has to be done is simple. If you go into a nomad camp in Rome, for example the one on Cristoforo Colombo, and ask those there, ‘what do you live from?' If they say they do not know, take them and send them back to Romania. Simple and without fuss. That is how the European directive works.” No risk of generalisation and a completely negative image there then.