The family are part of a group of 46 gypsies who left the western Hungarian town of Zamoly for Strasbourg, in eastern France, in July last year.

The gypsy question is indeed a question which concerns EU integration

Magyar Hirlap

Their plight has provoked an intense national debate about the rights of the country's Roma minority, whose numbers are estimated between 500,000-700,000, and the government's ethnic policies.

The Hungarian Government has crtiticised the French decision as "unfair, unfounded and unjust" and said it would have no bearing on Hungary's prospects for joining the European Union.

Those left behind in Zamoly are building new homes

But some newspapers and the opposition have attacked this response as an over-reaction.

Magyar Hirlap said on Tuesday that the government should reflect on its own responsibility rather than criticising the French decision.

"The gypsy question is indeed a question which concerns EU integration," it said.

Warning

The daily Nepszabadsag said Prime Minister Viktor Orban's statement that Hungary can "hold its own" with any EU country in terms of human rights and democracy was unfortunate.

"It seems Orban does not learn in international affairs", it said, warning that what it called the government's "hysterical" response might alienate not just German Chancellor Schroeder, but French Prime Minister Jospin as well.

The opposition Alliance of Free Democrats have also attacked the government's response, describing the French decision as a "serious warning" to Hungary to change its Roma policy.

Russians accused

The media have also reacted heatedly to allegations in the British periodical Jane's Intelligence Digest that the Russian secret service may have been encouraging the gypsies to leave.

Jane's, on its web site, said many of its articles over the years had attracted media interest, but rarely had one provoked interest on the scale witnessed recently in Hungary.

Roma leader Jozsef Krasznai: "I have never been in contact with any agent"

The Jane's article had said the Russians wanted to encourage the gypsies to leave to damage Hungary's human rights record and damage its chances of joining the EU.

It said this was one of a series of measures by Russia to impede the speed of EU and Nato expansion.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said in a television interview that the foreign ministry had no information that the Russian secret service had collaborated in the Zarmoly affair.

The Roma themselves are unhappy with the allegation and the leader of the Hungarian Roma, Jozsef Krasznai, was quoted on Tuesday as saying he would sue Jane's over the article.

"I have never in my life been in contact with any agent," he told Hungarian TV.

Jane's Intelligence Digest Managing Editor Ian Synge told BBC News Online on Tuesday that he had received no writ and he was confident that the article was accurate.