The first flights took off today carrying Roma home from France after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a crackdown on crime and immigration condemned by rights groups and the opposition.
The French government said 79 Roma would be repatriated on flights to Bucharest today under a plan that foresees sending 700 people to Romania and Bulgaria by the end of the month. Flights were leaving from airports in Paris and Lyon.
Last month Mr Sarkozy ordered that 300 illegal Roma and traveller camps be dismantled as part of a broader crime crackdown following riots in two French cities, one involving Roma who destroyed a police station.
European countries have sent Roma back to their countries of origin in the past, and some 10,000 were repatriated from France in 2009. But the latest deportations have been denounced by rights groups who say they risk stigmatising an entire community.
Romanian foreign minister Teodor Baconschi said today in an interview on French radio he was worried about the risk of "xenophobic reactions" to the campaign. Romanian officials are due in Paris next week to discuss it.
The opposition has accused Mr Sarkozy, whose ratings have slid this year amid scandals and high unemployment, of seeking to distract voters from his woes with the anti-crime campaign.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union bloc, said today it was closely monitoring the situation and urged Paris to respect the bloc's rules on citizens' rights.
The French government has said most of those it is repatriating are leaving on a voluntary basis. It has offered to pay those who agree to return €300 each and an additional €100 for children.
"The deportations serve to return these people to their country, and to demonstrate that we will not put up with the establishment of illegal camps in our country, as we have done for too many years," Family Minister Nadine Morano said.
Ms Morano said France wanted to end the influx of Roma, many of whom end up in street corners begging, live in squalid camps and use their children as beggars.
Some question the viability of the plan, arguing it is a waste of resources as nothing will prevent those who have received cash from returning days later.
Romania and Bulgaria are members of the European Union. Under EU regulations, citizens are free to settle in any other EU country, but must show that they have means to support themselves within three months of arriving.
Reuters