The census is part of a crackdown by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi`s government on crime.
The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Tuesday he was confident Italy's census of Roma people (Gypsies), criticised by the European Parliament and human rights groups as discriminatory, would respect EU rules—Reuters reports.
The Rome government has come under attack for its plan to conduct a census, with fingerprinting if necessary, of all people living in camps, including children.
The census is part of a crackdown by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government on crime.
Mr. Barroso, at a news conference with Berlusconi in Rome, said there was good cooperation between Italy and the EU executive, which is assessing whether the plan is compatible with EU anti-discrimination rules.
"I really believe ... that a solution will be found that will respect those principles that are essential for Europe and for Italy, while responding at the same time to the concerns that exist here in Italy regarding security but also the integration of immigrants," Barroso said.
EU lawmakers last week asked Italy to refrain from collecting fingerprints in nomads' camps, saying this would be a discriminatory policy aimed at a single ethnic group and would treat Roma and their children like criminals.
Similar concerns, dismissed by the Italian government, have been expressed by human rights groups and Catholic charities.
There are around 140,000 Roma people in Italy. About half come from abroad, mostly from eastern European countries such as Romania. Fifty-five percent of those living in camps are minors.
The census was ordered by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League. It initially involved fingerprinting all those living in camps in Naples, Rome and Milan, including children.
However, the government seems to have partly backtracked. Maroni said last week fingerprints would only be taken when no other means of identification was possible.
Italy is due to report back to the EU on the census, which has started in Naples and is due to begin in Rome this week, at the end of July.
A European Commission source said Barroso's message to Berlusconi in private would be that Brussels wanted "a nuts and bolts explanation of what is going on" in the treatment of the Roma.
Barroso would ask for a detailed report from Italy on why the measures were being taken, how many Roma did not have proper identity papers and what individual cases justified incarceration, the source said.
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