A spokesperson for the European Commission (EC) on Friday let slip that a plan by the Italian government to fingerprint the country's gypsy population, including children, would not be permitted under European Union regulations.
The spokesperson said the EC could not officially comment until it received a legal text for approval but added that ''like other European institutions, the Commission is bound by fundamental human rights and the fight against discrimination''.
Pressed by journalists on whether the plan would be possible under EU rules, the spokesperson replied ''No. I thought that was implicitly clear''.
Shadow Interior Minister Marco Minniti on Friday welcomed the EC spokesperson's comments.
''Clearly we are not alone in considering the initiative to be indicative of hateful discrimination,'' he said.
Minniti added that the government plan, which has no precedent elsewhere in Europe, clearly contravened an EU law forbidding member states to take ethnic registers or collect biometric data such as fingerprints from ethnic groups.
But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni described the EC's comments as ''unfounded''.
''Whoever said this is not very well informed. I would ask the Commission to find out the facts before expressing opinions that are frankly unfounded''.
''We will be taking a census, not creating an ethnic register,'' he said. ''The police will be accompanied by the Red Cross when they go into the camps in order to safeguard everyone's rights''.
Responding to criticism from opposition politicians and international children's rights organisations who object in particular to the fingerprinting of children, Maroni said the census was designed to protect ''the tens of thousands of children who live among rubbish and rats''.
''Fingerprinting is a procedure carried out as a matter of course at all juvenile courts,'' he added, doing little to quell concerns expressed by the Jewish community on Wednesday that the measures would be like labelling gypsy children ''congenital thieves''.
Milan Prefect Gian Valerio Lombardo, the government-appointed emergency commissioner on the Roma issue, backed Maroni's claims that minors will be helped by the survey.
''Children are sent, in most cases by parents who stay back home in Romania, to steal in areas of the city, and they are beaten if they do not return with the minimum amount.
''We know nothing about these children, we don't know who they are, and identifying them with fingerprints is a last resort that will also help us to safeguard them''.
Under the government proposal, fingerprints will be taken during a census of all gypsy camps in the country in a bid to establish who is in the country legally and who is not.
Gypsies found to be here illegally will be expelled after three months, while those with the correct paperwork will be 'regularised' and expected to pay tax.
The government eventually plans to dismantle all illegal camps as well as authorised camps that do not have adequate facilities.
Under a 2002 law, all immigrants applying for or renewing their resident's permit have their fingerprints taken digitally, including children from the age of six.
It is thought that a large number of Italy's 152,000 gypsies are illegal immigrants.
The vast majority of gypsies living in Italy are of Romanian origin, with a small percentage coming from the Balkans.
