Italy on Verge of Being Fined for Discriminating Against Lecturers

The European Commission has asked the European Court of Justice to fine Italy €309,750 a day for continuing to discriminate against foreign language lecturers in Italian universities.

Henry Rodgers, who teaches English at La Sapienza university in Rome, said Italy had failed to obey three rulings of the Court of Justice.

“Foreign teaching staff have spent 18 years–half an average university working life–battling for rights that should be automatic under the treaty,” he said. “Many foreign lecturers have been sacked for refusing to forego their rights under European law. Others have despaired of the second-class pay and employment conditions and have left Italy.”

Last summer, European affairs minister Noel Treacy told Roberto Antonione, under-secretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that he was “seriously concerned’‘ that EU citizens working in Italian universities continued to be treated differently from their Italian counterparts. He said such practices went against the shared interest in ensuring that workers’ rights were protected throughout the EU.

Until 1995, Italian law only allowed one-year contracts for foreign university lecturers with up to five annual renewals. Italian lecturers enjoyed open-ended contracts.

The foreign lecturers began their litigation 18 years ago. In 2001, the court ruled for a third time that Italy’s discriminatory treatment was in breach of European law. When Italy failed to obey the court ruling, the commission began the enforcement proceedings, which were heard last month.

Under a law introduced last year, foreign teachers were demoted to a newly-created rank of “collaborators and linguistic experts” and had to forfeit rights to seniority payments, wage increases and pension contributions.

The court’s Advocate General will deliver his opinion on January 26.