Wednesday, 27th April 2011
Continuing discrimination against the Lettori
Question for written answer E-002636/2011 to the Commission.
Struan Stevenson MEP:
On numerous occasions, the European Court of Justice has concluded that EU nationals have been unfairly treated when competing for jobs outside their home states, even after many years of residence. The discrimination against foreign language university teachers in Italy, known as the Lettori, is a particularly well-documented case.
As yet, this issue has still not been resolved and the reliance on courts and European institutions to adjudicate over employment matters in the Italian higher education sector simply exposes the lack of effective mechanisms to resolve labour disputes and further calls into question the promise of free movement and respect for other EU norms, including the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of nationality.
In a written question tabled by another MEP exactly a year ago, Commissioner Andor espoused that the Commission was liaising with the Italian authorities "for more detailed information" so that it could "consider whether any action is needed once it has examined all of the information available"'.
I would be most grateful if the Commission would explain what progress has been made regarding this discrimination. More specifically, I would like to know:
1) If the aforementioned liaisons did elucidate any further information and if the Commission decided that any action was needed?
2) What steps are the Commission are taking to ensure that discrimination against the Lettori is stopped?
Answer - E-002636/2011 given by Mr Andoron behalf of the Commission - 27.4.2011:
The Commission would invite the Honourable Member to refer to its answer to written question E-1697/2010 .
As stated in reply to question E-1697/2010, the Commission has been in contact with the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (Associazione Lettori di Lingua Straniera in Italia - ALLSI), and not with the Italian authorities, to gather more information about the situation of Lettori in Italy.
In this context, the Commission is analysing the new law (Law n. 240 of 30 December 2010) which entered into force on 15 February 2011. Should the results of this enquiry point to issues of compliance of this new legislation with EU law on free movement of workers, the Commission services will contact the Italian authorities for more information.
