ROME -- UK lecturers in Italy have asked the European Commissioners Věra Jourová and Frans Timmermans to set up a ‘special fund’ to compensate British and other non-Italian lecturers (‘lettori’) for discrimination in Italian universities and to guarantee their pensions.

 The appeal to the Commission follows from two recent Italian appeal court decisions. A Rome Court of Appeal, 15/11/16,  “extinguished” the legal claims of German citizen, who had received €64.596,93 arrears in unpaid wages and updated social security payments for the years 2004-2009, and the Catania Court of Appeal, 27/10/16, citing Gelmini, sanctions a cut in the salaries of 21 lecturers (13 British) from €1.532,00 to €962,62.

 The chairman of ALLSI (Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy) David Petrie, who teaches at the University of Verona, wrote Tuesday to European Commissioner Frans Timmermans  (Commissioner for Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights) and Commissioner Věra Jourová (Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality), asking them to set up a “special fund” to compensate British and other non-Italian lecturers for losses caused by the systemic failure of the EU to guarantee free movement of workers. 

 For 30 years, lettori have been seeking equal treatment under EU single market rules. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled six times in their favour finding illegitimate discrimination based on nationality with regard to salaries, duration of contract, career development and pensions and social security rights. The case involves up to 200 lettori, and the largest group are British.

 The CJEU is tasked with interpreting the EU Treaty, while the member state is tasked with implementation of the Court’s judgments. Following the six cases in the CJEU, many lettori sought and obtained compensation in the Italian courts. However, the Italian state responded in Dec. 2010 by passing the so-called ‘Gelmini law’ that “extinguishes” their legal claims and reinterprets the judgments of the CJUE.

 This law has been described by academic experts such as Peter Ferguson QC as “An astonishing statutory provision. If other Member States follow Italy’s example, the European project and, more importantly, the rule of law are endangered.”

 Professor Brad K Blitz said the law is “…in conflict with Article Six of the European Convention on Human Rights … and undermines the primacy of EU law.”

 Professor Noreen Burrows OBE said it “…has the potential to undermine the authority of the European Court of Justice by appearing to allow Member States to reinterpret the decisions of the Court to suit their purpose of perpetuating discrimination."

  The European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions in the EU Citizenship Report 2010, (Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens’ rights pg.19 par. six), complained that “Blatant discrimination on grounds of nationality was revealed on numerous occasions in the case of foreign language teachers (‘lettori’) in Italy, who have been struggling for decades against discriminatory treatment with respect to security of tenure, career development, pensions and social security.” The Commission services are investigating.  

  In the meantime, lettori have had salaries cut by as much as 40 percent, many have retired without having received compensation for unpaid arrears on wages or full pensions, others are deceased and legal claims are being pursued by their heirs.   

 Prof. Petrie said of the situation, “One member state, Italy, is allowed for 30 years, to discriminate against citizens of all other states and cock a snook at the CJEU: hence you have systemic failure. The fine line of demarcation that decrees that the CJEU should leave implementation to a member state is predicated on the idea that member states will put rule of law before self-interest and blatant discrimination. The lettori cases expose this fallacy. It is now incumbent on the European Commission to underwrite the losses sustained by up to 200 lettori in order to ensure that rights are not just paper rights. Italy’s budgetary concerns cannot be allowed to undermine free movement of workers and flout the rule of law.”

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