Romanians were afraid to be confused with Romas and wanted representatives of this ethnic minority to use the name Gypsies, Romanian dialy România Liberă said on December 10.
The majority of Romanians was said to be of the opinion that the incidents in Italy, of which Romanian citizens were the victims, had been ignited by media publications in which the terms Romanian and Roma were confused. Which was why Romanians wanted a return to the classical name for Romas, Gypsies, Dnevnik daily said.
A young Roma with Romanian citizenship was arrested in Rome in October on the accusation that he had robbed and murdered a 47 year-old Italian. After the incident, the Italian parliament accepted a decree, which would make it easier to expel EU citizens in the name of national security. Prefectures in Italian cities immediately started expelling immigrants, most of them Romanians. Around the same time, Romanian citizens had been attacked in several incidents by Italians.
Public opinion research by Gallup Romania, ordered by the Romanian agency for juridical strategy, showed that, according to 76 per cent of Romanians, foreigners frequently confused Romanian and Roma. According to 52 per cent of those interviewed, use of the word Gypsy would be correct, despite the fact that the ethnic group itself preferred to be called Romas. However, 34 per cent did not agree with the use of the word Gypsy.
More than half of the Romanians who had family in Italy, have been in touch with them since the incidents. Listening to the stories of their relatives, 44 per cent said media represented the situation more dramatically than it really was.
Ninety-one per cent of those who were interviewed, said they have no intention to go to work in Italy in the next six months and 81 per cent said they did not want to go to work in any EU country, România Liberă said.
According to a spokesperson of the agency for juridical strategy, Alfred Boulai, these figures were not the result from incidents in Italy, but from the fact that "those who had reasons to leave, already did so".
The emigration wave of Romanian labour force to the EU also dropped because "the large difference in standards of living has decreased," Boulai said.
