FT: Romanian president Basescu will not sign Roma bill

Romanian President Traian Basescu (in picture) said he will refuse to sign into law a bill renaming the country’s Roma minority internally as “gypsies”, the Financial Times reported online Monday. "I believe it's a big mistake, I'll never promulgate such a law. I'll send the law back," Basescu told the Financial Times in an interview. He added that the bill would be a "gesture of rejection".

The controversial bill, put forward by Silviu Prigoana, a member of the centre-right PDL party that is the biggest in Romania's two-party coalition, would ban Romanian institutions from using the word Roma. It would replace it with a word meaning "gypsies", but which is seen as having negative connotations in Romanian, the paper reports.

The bill reflects frustration among many Romanians over the potential confusion between the name of the minority and that of their country, the paper comments. "Politicians should concentrate instead on creating better educational opportunities and ways in which to show the richness of the cultural heritage of the Roma minority," Basescu told the Financial Times.

The controversy over the renaming bill comes at a sensitive time for Romania, which hopes to join the Schengen border-free zone next year. Basescu is concerned that the Roma issue could be used unfairly as a pretext to delay Romania's entry.

Mediafax