Deutsche Welle reports that Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, an ultra-right populist,
instructed regional authorities this week to produce maps of what he called "illegal settlements" inhabited by Romani people around the country. The data is meant to serve as the basis for conducting his previously-announced "census" of the Roma.
That "census" is then meant to create the background material for the process of deporting all Roma who are not originally from Italy. German MEP Romeo Franz, who is himself of Romani origin, sharply objected to Salvini's current policies yesterday as racist.
"I am calling on the European Parliament to express itself in far stronger terms against antigypsyism and to take action against antigypsyists, including Salvini. His policy is an attack on European values, it is a disgrace for Europe, it is racism," the MEP said.
