Discriminatie buitenlandse docenten op Italiaanse universiteiten: Commissie vraagt EU-Hof tot oplegging hoge boete (en)

The European Commission has taken a decision to ask the Court of Justice to impose a € 309.750 per day fine on Italy for non execution of a judgement relating to the discriminatory treatment of former foreign language lecturers in several Italian universities. In its judgement of 26 June 2001, the Court declared that as Italy had not recognised the acquired rights of foreign language assistants who had become associates and mother-tongue linguistic experts, although granting such recognition to all national workers, Italy had failed to fulfil treaty requirements relating to non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality. On 14 January 2004 Italy adopted a 'Decreto Legge', which aligns the former status of lettori with the national category of 'ricercatori a tempo definito'. The Commission believes that this decree does not fully implement the Court's judgement. The Commission has therefore decided to request that a daily fine of 309.750 be fixed, to be payable until a decree is adopted which fully implements the Court judgement.

The original court ruling

In its judgment on 26 June 2001 in the case C-212/99 the ECJ considered that Italian universities had treated non-Italian nationals differently from Italians in a way that amounted to discrimination on grounds of nationality. This was because the universities did not grant to former foreign language assistants who became linguistic associates wage increases, seniority and payment by the employer of social security contributions from the date of their original recruitment, despite the fact that such treatment is recognised and guaranteed to all national workers according to national legislation. Some measures were taken by the Italian authorities after the judgement, but in a reasoned opinion of 2 May 2003, the Commission indicated that these were not sufficient to implement the judgement correctly and completely.

The Italian government adopted a decree on 14 January 2004, which aligned the rights of the former lettori with those of the national category of 'ricercatori a tempo definito' (part-time researchers). The decree set aside €10m for payments of acquired rights and indicated that the lettori could not undertake teaching duties.

It is the view of the Commission that imposing the status of 'ricercatori a tempo definito' imposes on the lettori a status which is a free choice for nationals. Furthermore, staff would normally work 'a tempo pieno' (full time) and the hours worked by lettori were significantly higher than those associated with 'ricercatori a tempo definito'.

Therefore this status does not correspond with the Court judgement. The requirement not to teach contradicts the actual situation in Italian universities and calls into question the function and status of the lettori. Finally, the decree does not tackle the issue of back-payments of salary and social security contributions.

For these reasons, the European Commission considers that the decree does not completely and correctly implement the Court's judgment and is proposing the levying of a daily fine.