Pierre Lellouche came to BucharestUpdated: 15-02-2010 | Politics

The human traffic and integration of minorities are the main topics of discussions the French secretary of state for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche has with Bucharest officials during his two-day visit he started on Thursday in Romania. As seen from the talks held at the Foreign Ministry with the Romanian foreign minister Teodor Babonschi, the French delegation is preoccupied by the situation of thousands of Romanian gypsies who immigrated to France and who live in precarious conditions. In context, Lellouche declared he wanted Paris and Bucharest to synchronize their efforts better to stop human traffic "which affects both children and elderly people" and means sliding away from the European principle of free circulation," the source informs.

About 20,000 gypsies are living in France, of whom very few have documents or labour permits. Those who are caught living illegally in France are sent back to Romania with 300 euro in their pocket. Back in Romania they can benefit from a reintegration project financed by France.Minister Baconschi also showed that France is one of Romania's important strategic partners both at bilateral level and within EU and NATO, where the two countries share common values and objectives and have similar approaches in many fields. A recent example of this cooperation is launching , within EU, together with France, the support group of European action in Moldova.

On that occasion, the Romanian foreign minister announced the improvement of operations for the common work groups on energy security and cooperation at the Black Sea and concerning aspects of social inclusion and migratory flows.The first group will meet in Paris in the following period, while the second will have the first meeting today, in Bucharest coordinated by the secretary of state in the Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Mazuru and the secretary of state of the French Foreign Ministry, Pierre Lellouche. "We know this matter has a negative potential on Romania's image and we decided to mobilize bilateral cooperation, to include this phenomenon from the juridical and legal points of view. I think the ratification of the bilateral Accord on cooperation for the protection of Romanian minors not accompanied by adults will support this ambition," said minister Baconschi. This is the first visit of a French official in Bucharest after the setting up of the new executive headed by Emil Boc.