Fresh challenge to Italyon foreign lecturers’ payThe European Commission ispreparing to launch a freshround of legal action againstItaly for discriminating againstforeign lecturers in an abuse ofEuropean Union law that haspersisted for more than 30years.
The Commission has twice be-fore brought cases against Italyin the European Court of Justiceover the employment conditionsof foreign lettori. It has won bothcases, in 2001 and 2006.
Although successive Italiangovernments have madechanges to their laws, the dis-crimination continues.
The Commission’s depart-ment for employment, social affairs and inclusion launched acomplaints procedure last year,when the Italian governmentwas headed by Mario Monti, aformer European commission-er. European Voice has learntthat the Commission is onceagain contemplating legal action, because the current gov-ernment’s response has beenunsatisfactory.
An Italian law adopted in
1980 on tenure for universityteachers put foreigners on an-nual contracts renewable forfive years. The law and its suc-cessors have been challenged repeatedly, and the ECJ has de-livered six judgments that dis-crimination is being practisedagainst foreign nationals teach-ing in Italian universities, mostrecently in 2008. Yet the discrimination worsened afterItaly adopted a higher-educa-tion law in 2010, known as theGelmini law, that was designedto implement the ECJ rulings.
This year, around half of the180 foreign lecturers whose cas-es are still pending in Italiancourts had their salaries cut – insome cases by as much as 60% –with three universities that employ them – in Catania,Salento and Bergamo – citingthe Gelmini law.
Last week an appeal court inBrescia, northern Italy, handeddown a ruling that gives addi-tional urgency to the Commis-sion’s pending action. Two yearsago, three foreign lecturers wereawarded !300,000 in wage ar-rears by a first-instance court inBrescia, in line with a 2004 lawwhose adoption was sufficient
to stave off an EU threat of fines.The University of Brescia ap-pealed against that judgment.On 11 July, an appeals courtquashed the award. It refused toconsider the merits of the caseand instead applied the Gelmi-ni law, which declared as “ex-tinct” all pending court casesconcerning foreign lecturers.
Lorenzo Picotti, a law profes-sor who advises the Associationof Foreign Lecturers in Italy, described the judgment as “as-tonishing” and said it retroac-tively applied the Gelmini law inviolation of EU law.
Edward McMillan-Scott, aBritish Liberal MEP, said: “Thiscase demonstrates that the for-eign lecturers and indeed othersworking in Italy as foreign ex-perts cannot expect fair treat-ment from the Italian adminis-trative and legal system, letalone from the government.” Hesaid he would lodge a complaintwith the Commission when theEuropean Parliament recon-venes in September, for its fail-ure to take a tougher stanceagainst Italy. “The Commissionhas not done its job and must doso now,” he said.
The head of the foreign lectur-
ers’ association, David Petrie,who teaches at the University ofVerona, said that, despite a courtruling equating his work withthat of an associate professorwhose monthly take-home paywas !2,226, he was getting just!1,471 net.
In the UK’s parliament,David Lidington, the ministerfor European affairs, has facedcalls to exclude Italy from inter-national co-operation throughthe Erasmus student exchangescheme and the Bologna ac-cords on mutual recognition ofdegrees.
Alain Le Roy, France’s am-bassador to Italy, has also voicedhis government’s concerns overthe Gelmini law.
The Italian ministry for education did not respond to arequest for comment.� The Commission is also con-sidering launching a separate legal action against Italy overthe testing of the Italian language skills of foreign teach-ers, which it believes is dispro-portionate. The Commission isunhappy with Italy’s response toa request for clarification sentlast year.
�See page 8
Toby [email protected]
Thierry RepentinFrance’s minister for Europeshuns the limelight Page 10
18 – 24 July 2013Volume 19 Number 28
Commission seeks to rein in interchangefees imposed by banks for card payments.PAGE 3
Between the EU and thedeep blue sea
Fewer migrants may be dying at sea, butthey still face arbitrary treatment onshore,Human Rights Watch writes.
NEWSHidden fees
The Commission threatens Iceland. PAGE 4
NEWSMackerel saga
Will member states consent to a European public prosecutor? PAGE 5
NEWSA longer arm
Reforms to EU fishing policy are called intoquestion. PAGE 7
ANALYSISNew boats, old problems
Which EU president believes bureaucratshave no critical or ethical sense? PAGE 19
ENTRE NOUSRallying the troops
Car warsBan on Mercedestests single market Page 4
MANY HAPPY RETURNS Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, with a bouquet of flowers she received for her 59th birthday yesterday (17 July).
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MANAGING DIRECTORSheherazade Semsar- de Boisséson
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The success of the European Union rests on a sharedrespect for the rule of law. Without that, it is nothing.When a country joins the Union, as Croatia has justdone, it signs up to the body of EU law – the acquiscommunautaire – and it is that shared acquis that
defines the relationship between member states that in many otherrespects differ from each other greatly – in history, tradition, cultureand economy.
History teaches, however, that membership of this rules-basedclub brings with it disagreements over those rules. A definingcondition of being in the EU appears to be that there will be clashesover the application of EU law. Member states argue amongthemselves over how EU law should be interpreted. They argueeven more with the European Commission, which is supposed to bethe guardian of the EU’s treaties. And sometimes the disputesbecome cases for adjudication at the European Court of Justice(ECJ), the arbiter of EU law.
Such disputes occur across a wide range of EU subject-matter.Croatia, almost immediately after its admission, finds itself in astruggle with the Commission over the scope of European arrestwarrants. Meanwhile, Germany is testing EU law with its refusal tocomply with rules on what coolants can be used in cars. Suchfrictions are not unusual.
However, the record of successive Italian governments in theirtreatment of foreign lecturers working in Italy’s universities – lettori– has gone beyond the bounds of normal friction. The lettoridispute, which is essentially about treating foreigners differentlyfrom Italian citizens, sets its own aberrant standards for whatconstitutes normal behaviour.
First, this is a case that has been dragging on for well nigh threedecades. During that time, this newspaper has had to return to thiscase again and again. We do not apologise for doing so, even thoughthe essential elements have barely changed: Italy’s prevaricationand intransigence should not be rewarded with quiescence fromeveryone else.
Secondly, the plaintiffs have exhausted due process: having won acase at the ECJ, they found that Italy has failed to comply. It falls tothe European Commission to ensure that Italy complies with ECJrulings. Such failure to comply and failure to enforce constitute agrave threat to the EU’s legal structures.
Thirdly, the Italian authorities have resorted to extreme measuresto thwart the plaintiffs. The Gelmini law of 2011 has been used notto refute or overturn the judgment of the ECJ and its effects, but tosidestep them entirely.
What has been missing in Italy for so long – and latterly in theEU institutions – is a proper appreciation of the significance of thelettori case. Fewer than 200 lecturers are involved, so this does notpersonally affect many EU citizens. The amount of money involvedis not enormous, although it is big enough to matter to theindividuals and to the cash-strapped universities. But that is not itstrue significance. After so many years of contempt by successivegovernments, this case has become a test of whether or not the ruleof law applies in the EU.
COMMENT
International Press Centre, Résidence Palace,Rue de la Loi 155, Box 6, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
Italy’s disrespectfor rule of lawhurts all of EU
818 July 2013
MANNY FRANCISCO, MANILA, THE PHILLIPPINES © MANNY/CAGLE CARTOONS
EU eyes peace mission to Moldovahas 2,000 troops on the spot.
According to a diplomatpresent at talks with NATOofficials, the Alliance wouldagree with such a mission andwill probably lend the EU themilitary assets needed. Themeeting also showed that “theAlliance is not likely toundertake the operation itself,as...Washington is notinterested, but would let theEuropeans do it”, he said.
A Russian spokesman saidRussia has not been approachedeither by the Organization forSecurity and Co-operation inEurope OSCE or the EU withsuch a proposal.
An official at the Council ofMinisters said that a decision onany mission to Moldova will bemore complicated than sendingtroops to Macedonia, where theEU’s first peacekeepingoperation is under way.
The European Union maylaunch a controversialpeacekeeping mission toMoldova to help stabilise one ofEurope’s poorest regions.
Such an operation would testrelations with Russia andUkraine, which have a strategicinterest in the former Sovietrepublic.
An EU diplomat said that anyoperation should be launched inco-operation with Russia, which
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