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Romania Ambassador To Britain: Distorted and biased information ruining the lives of Romanians in th
Romania’s ambassador to the United Kingdom has recently launched an attack on elements of the British press and political sphere for their “scaremongering” over immigration, saying it’s damaging the lives of hard working, honest people.
In a statement published on the Huffington Post, Dr Ion Jinga took aim at the unfair bad press in Britain concerning immigrants from Eastern Europe, including their disproportionate association with crime such as theft, pick pocketing and begging
He said a combination of economic difficulties, austerity measures, the rising of anti-EU rhetoric, the electoral context and misleading forecasts in 2004 have combined to create a culture of blame which victimizes Romanians and Bulgarians.
“Since the beginning of the year the British public opinion (has been regularly served with scaremongering about “waves of immigration” and “waves of crime” coming from Eastern Europe and therefore it is not surprising that hostility to immigration has grown,” Dr Jinga said.
“Part of the media disproportionately associates migrants with theft, pick pocketing and begging but these are phenomena affecting all major cities since the ancient times.
“It has neither emerged in the recent years in Europe, nor is related to Eastern European communities that have settled into Western countries.
“Therefore, any attempt to link criminality with a particular nationality or to present it as the result of the EU enlargement is not only untrue, but could fuel racially motivated incidents, as we have witnessed occasionally.”
Dr Jinga quoted research but the London School of Economics and Political Science that showed crime had fallen significantly in neighbourhoods with sizable migrant populations from Eastern Europe.
The report also found that the relationship between the arrival of thousands of foreigners and levels of violence was “close to zero and insignificant”, he said.
He said Romanians were very well integrated into British society, with one of the highest employment rates of 85 percent.
Their presence in the country was a result of market demand, he added.
“They work hard, pay taxes and are valued by their employers. They put into the British public purse more than they take out,” he said.
“Unfortunately, distorted and biased information about a “crime wave” after 1 January 2014 is damaging their lives and reputation.”
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