Commission presses Italy to treat foreign lecturers fairly

Date: 15/05/03

By Martin Banks

ITALY has been urged to resolve the long-running row over foreign lecturers in its universities when it takes over the EU's rotating presidency on 1 July.

The call comes after the European Commission issued an ultimatum last week to the Italian government to end alleged discrimination against the lecturers or face fines of up to €250,000 a day.

Lettori have suffered years of unfair treatment at the hands of the authorities, receiving lower salaries and poorer conditions than their Italian counterparts.

Spearheading the campaign is Scotsman David Petrie, chairman of the Association of Foreign Lecturers, who said discrimination is continuing, despite four rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that Italy is breaking EU law.

Petrie, based in Verona, said: "The impression I am given is that the European Parliament's petitions committee wants to use the forthcoming Italian presidency as a window of opportunity to resolve this problem by putting pressure on the Italian government.

"We have circulated all Italian MEPs and Italy's Permanent Representation to the EU has been asked to back our campaign."

He added: "Italy has been condemned four times in the ECJ on this issue and has been the subject of four Parliamentary resolutions. Yet, after 15 years it is still practising widespread, systematic discrimination against foreign lecturers."

Another leading campaigner in the battle to win a fair deal for foreign lecturers is Irishman Henry Rodgers, who teaches at Rome's La Sapienza University. Rodgers has been working on a temporary contract for 13 years - with the result that he has missed out on pension rights and salary rises.

However, he is not counting on a U-turn by Italy.

In a recent letter to European Voice, Rodgers said: "From 1989, Italy has shown an almost Houdini-like ability to evade the clear cut rulings of the Court.

"The [European Commission's] legal service should be particularly vigilant in ensuring that sleight of hand does not again deprive the foreign teachers of their legitimate rights."

Sir Neil MacCormick, a member of the European Parliament's legal affairs committee, described Italy's treatment of foreign lecturers as "disgraceful" and "a matter of both evading or defying decisions of the ECJ".

• It is not just foreigners who have suffered discrimination in Italy.

Italian Marco Lorenzelli told this newspaper that the Italian education authorities refused to acknowledge a British degree he obtained from the distance-learning Open University in 1998.

Lorenzelli has accused the EU of failing to support people who try to improve their education.

The European Commission has called on Italy to end its discrimination against foreign lecturers seeking to work in Italy.