Minister furiously rejects Roma attack

France has angrily rejected an attack by the EU's Justice Commissioner on its expulsion of Roma migrants, accusing her of overstepping the mark.

The European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche accused Viviane Reding of unjustifiably suggesting that the expulsions smacked of the Nazi persecution of gypsies during the Second World War.

"There's a limit to my patience," Mr Lellouche said, echoing Ms Reding in her criticism of France. "This kind of outburst is not appropriate."

On the eve of a European Union leaders' meeting in Brussels, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office described Ms Reding's remarks as "simply unacceptable".

In an unusually strong attack on a member government, Ms Reding told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that Paris had broken EU law on the free movement of people and that legal proceedings against France would probably start within weeks.

Referring to Nazi Germany's persecution of gypsies, Ms Reding said she was afraid about ethnic targeting and the darkness of Europe's past returning. "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said.

But Mr Lellouche, referring to incentives offered to the Roma to leave, said: "A nest egg, an air ticket for the country of origin in the European Union is not the death trains, it's not the gas chambers."