FRANCE: Two-thirds of all cases handled by the Paris juvenile court involve Romanian youths detained for crimes such as theft, begging or soliciting for prostitution, France's Justice Minister said yesterday.
These cases now make up 8 per cent of the total workload of Paris criminal courts, Justice Minister Mr Dominique Perben said after talks with his Romanian colleague, Mr Cristian Diaconsecu.
Mr Perben blamed "mafia-like networks" for an influx in recent years of Romanian minors, many of whom work as prostitutes, and urged Bucharest to stop the traffic.
The Romanian youth crime wave has burdened more than the court system.
A senior aide to Prime Minister Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin had to resign in April over a scandal involving a 17-year-old Romanian prostitute.
"There is no reason why there should be so many Romanian minors in France," Mr Perben told journalists after the meeting.
Mr Diaconsecu, whose country hopes to join the European Union in 2007, pledged to reinforce border controls to stem the flow of minors abroad.
French police and justice officials say they are unable to fight effectively against the influx because minors cannot be jailed and are often treated as victims rather than criminals.
Despite a bilateral agreement in 2002 on repatriating young offenders, France managed to send only 40 Romanian minors back home last year. - (Reuters)