For a while, the French government's claim that it was expelling people on legal rather than ethnic grounds was claimed to be "openly contradicted by an administrative circular issue by the same government" mentioning the illegal Romani camps specifically ("en priorité ceux des Roms"). This mention could be explained by the fact that Romani account for the overwhelming majority of foreign migrants setting up camps in France, and that "most Roma from the two countries and Romania are thought to be in France illegally". The then French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that his government had been unaware of the directive in question signed by Mr Michel Bart, the Chief of Staff of the French Minister of the Interior, and that the directive had been cancelled as soon as the government became aware of it through press reports. He stated that France continues to welcome refugees and that "we refuse the creation of slums... that are unworthy of French Republic or European ideals." President Sarkozy also stated that 80% of people removed from the camps during August 2010 were of French "gens du voyage", i.e. most of the campers thus removed were not foreign citizens or Roma; and that all removals were done based on judicial decisions, i.e. they were not unilateral police operations as would be based on a circular directive.