Italian-EU leaders discuss gypsy issue

ROME, July 7 (UPI) -- A top Italian minister says that "misunderstandings" with the European Union over a census of gypsy camps have been cleared up.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that he will send the EU a report by the end of the month on government plans for what he termed the ''gypsy emergency.'' Previous plans to take the fingerprints of all gypsies during the census have come under criticism for discriminating against an ethnic minority, the news agency ANSA reported Monday.

European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot's spokesman, Michele Cercone, said the meeting at a gathering of EU justice and interior ministers had been ''very constructive.''

''It opened dialog on the concrete application of measures carried out by the Italian government, which is what the European Commission is most concerned about,'' he said.

Maroni has previously pledged to dismantle all illegal camps as well as authorized camps that do not have adequate health facilities. Italian government plans also call for the expulsion of any immigrant found to be in Italy without legal paperwork.