Brussels, 05/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 September, the European Commission gave its approval to Italy's new robust immigration policy which, among other things, aims at a census of adults and children in camps of nomadic people. The Commission takes the view that Rome complies with the Community legislation. “Good cooperation between the Italian authorities and the European Commission has made it possible to verify the conditions in which measures are implemented and to correct those which may be disputed”, said Michele Cercone, spokesperson for the commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security. The commissioner, Jacques Barrot, “appreciates the resolve shown by Roberto Maroni (Italian Minister of the Interior) to abide by European legislation”, he said. Such is the conclusion reached by the Commission after working in August on a report that it had requested of the Italian government on the emergency measures foreseen (DNA testing, fingerprinting) in camps of nomads in Italy, seemingly mainly targeting the Roma (EUROPE 9717). The Commission considers, however, that the measures foreseen “do not authorise the collection of data on ethnic origin or on the religion of people covered by the census”. On the question of fingerprinting, Mr Cercone explained, this is “not systematic” and “rather limited”. “For minors, it is only foreseen for cases that are strictly necessary where identification cannot be made otherwise”, he continued, saying that the Red Cross and UNICEF were involved in the initiative. All the same, Mr Barrot will pay close “attention to all information that may be communicated to him on implementing the measures”. He also asked to be informed of completion of the census, the conditions in which it was carried out and the results reached, a spokesperson states. Monica Frassoni of Italy, co-President of the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament (EP), however, called on the Commission and on the Italian government not to keep such a report secret. “The European Parliament and public are being kept in the dark about both the contents of the Italian government's report and the detail of the Commission's analysis. We deplore this lack of transparency”, she stressed, saying that parliamentarians and the public have the right to be able to form their own opinion. (B.C./transl.jl)