Italy, Spain clash over treatment of Roma

ROME, May 21 (UPI) -- Italy's foreign affairs minister has reacted angrily to criticism from Spain over the country's treatment of Romanian immigrants.

"Declarations from ministers that interfere with the activities of a government elected by the Italian citizens are not acceptable, especially in areas like immigration, which need close cooperation between Spain and Italy," Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, who is also a former European commissioner for immigration, said in a radio interview.

Several Spanish ministers were sharply critical of Italian policy after violent mob attacks last week on encampments of Roma or Gypsy immigrants from Romania in Naples, The EU Observer reported.

Corbacho Celestine, the Spanish minister for labor and immigration, accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of wanting "to criminalize those that are different."

The attacks in Naples followed a rumor that a Roma girl had tried to steal a baby.

Pietro Petrucci, a spokesman for the European Commission, said Italy had not yet violated any EU laws on the free movement of labor. He said the union was closely monitoring the situation in Italy.