Brescia Court of Appeal extinguishes lettori cases

Dermot Costello, Bettie Mims and Robert Coates

 

  BRESCIA - The latest twist in the story of the fight against the Gelmini Law is the Brescia Court of Appeal extinguishing the court cases of 2 Britons and an American - in breach of Articles 6 and 47 of the EU charter on fundamental rights - the right of a citizen to have his complaint adjudicated in a court of law. The final say in laying down the principles of EU law rests with the European Court of Justice. The application of those decisions rests with the domestic jurisdiction. 

 

  In January 2011, the Berlusconi government introduced new measures, known as the Gelmini law – these measures provide for the “extinguishing”  of court cases pending and brought by lettori (non-Italian lecturers working) in Italian Universities.  The discriminatory nature of the Gelmini law and other Italian education laws already has been condemned on several occasions by the European courts, yet there has been no change.

 

  The first case concerns UK citizen, 53 year old Robert Coates. Under Italian law workers are paid one month’s salary at the end of contract (TFR – trattamento fino rapporto).They are entitled to an advance on this money either to purchase a house or for medical expenses. Mr Coates wanted to purchase a house and applied for the advance to his employer, the University of Brescia. The University refused. Mr Coates sued and in a Brescia court, 12.11.11, awarded the payment of €39,620, plus legal costs. The University of Brescia appealed this decision. Three Appeal Court judges, 11.7.13, rejected the University’s appeal grounds as “unfounded” but cited the Gelmini law and extinguished the lower court’s decision. Since, the University of Brescia has already clawed back €10,000 from Mr Coates, in July 2015, for legal expenses awarded to him by the lower Court.

 

  The second case concerns Mr Coates (53), Dermot Costello, UK citizen (64) and US citizen Bettie Mims (72). A Brescia court awarded, 7.12.11, €140.764, €142,811 and €32,899, respectively for arrears on unpaid wages, following the ECJ rulings. The University of Brescia appealed the decision of the lower court, citing Gelmini and the Brescia Court of appeal, 11.7.13, extinguished the judgment of the lower court.

 

  The European Parliament’s committee for petitions received a reply from the European Commission on 29 September 2015 in which the Commission expresses “significant doubts” as to the legitimacy of the Gelmini law and has undertaken to “pursue the matter further with the Italian authorities”. 

 

  The lecturers’ lawyer, Professor Avvocato Lorenzo Picotti, who has successfully pled to lettori cases in the ECJ, said that the Brescia court of appeal’s decisions are now the leading cases in demonstrating that the Gelmini law is in stark contrast with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

 

  Mr Coates’ case was being monitored by his former UK constituency MP, ex- Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He has now taken the matter up with his current Scottish Nationalist, MP, Roger Mullin.

 

  ALLSI chairman, David Petrie, has written to the European Parliaments chair of the Petitions Committee, Swedish deputy Ms Cecilia Wikström, urging the Parliament, which has been supporting the lettori for over 25 years, to hold the Commission to account.