Horsemeat and Gypsies: the New State-Endorsed Xenophobia

Romania joined the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007. Despite adhering three years after the majority of Eastern European countries, the country is still considered to be part of the fifth wave of expansion. The delay was due to widespread concern surrounding Romania’s high-level of organized crime and corruption. That pre-existing conception was the first example from a long-list of instances of state hate.

The European Union’s big shots did not trust that Romania was ready in 2004, yet now, six years after it joined them as an equal member state, Romania is nevertheless still picked upon and is the subject of extreme mistrust. Three years ago a lot of noise was made over Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to remove the “social burden” represented by the Roma (an ethnic minority from Romania, commonly known as travelers or gypsies). The Roma had arrived in France from Romania by taking full advantage of the European freedom of circulation. Sarkozy, then President of France, went about their extradition by offering the unwanted settlers a cash payment in order to persuade them to get on “specially chartered” flights back to Romania. Some members of the European hierarchy identified the move as part of a frightening “resurgence of xenophobia,” comparing it to events “not seen since the second World War.” Despite that crude but just attack, nothing concrete happened. The French police were unashamedly allowed to target and deport Roma settlers.

“Why don’t you come over?”

Earlier this year some scare-mongering appeared in the British press over the fact that the British government’s ban on job-seeking migrants from Romania will expire next year. In retaliation a Romanian news-site released an advertisement taunting the British with a “Why don’t you come over?” slogan, bragging that half of their women looked like Princess Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, whilst the other half looked like her much adored, and nigh on sex symbol sister Pippa. Despite the crude means, the argument was valid. The European Union allows the free movement of persons across its borders. Any move by governments to counteract such essential principles can only ever be short-term and thus wholly ineffective. All it can do is raise tensions and give legal grounding for future xenophobia.

So hungry I could eat a horse.

Another European story recently brought Romania into the media spotlight — that of the horse-meat scandal. Over the last few weeks dozens of products have been taken off supermarket shelves across Europe after it was discovered that many foods supposedly containing beef actually had traces of horse-meat in them. In some cases, it was much more than traces, with 100 percent horse-meat found in some Findus products and 60 percent in the extremely popular tesco beef lasagne. All kinds of frozen beef burgers were found to contain elements of equine DNA and were also removed from supermarkets. Distributors in both France and England promptly pointed the blame at Romanian distributors. Unfortunately and foolishly, this accusation was made without clear proof or contacting those distributors. Romanian politicians were rightly offended and expressed deep outrage.

Is this all scape-goating, with the most developed and well-establish members of the European club finding easy pickings in the form of the Union’s newest member? Or does it represent a much deeper fear of others, with especially the Romanians and their gypsies taking the full brunt of the blame? It is possible that since the previous 2004 wave of migrant workers many countries have realized that some aspects of the European plan do not actually benefit them. Although the European ideal of free movement across borders sought to equalize the power dynamic across Europe, in recent years it has in fact accentuated the divide between the richer and poorer states. The most ambitious workmen leave their native countries to pick up menial but better playing jobs in western Europe. Any mass influx of foreign workers would in theory cause massive pressure on local employment and wage levels. Native populations have grown increasingly hostile towards those who come and “take their jobs” per se, and this has led to a notable rise in far-right votes. Thus, Romania has unfortunately become a political punching-bag. Instead of the actual migrants being subjected to localized discrimination, it is the entire population, the entire state.