New moves to fight French discrimination on ski slopes

Date: 04/04/1996

By Rory Watson

FRANCE is facing another EU onslaught against discriminatory practices on the country's ski slopes.

The European Commission is set to launch its second legal battle in four months to ensure qualified EU instructors can ply their trade in French mountain resorts.

It follows complaints from Denmark and Germany after their instructors were prevented from giving classes to pupils on short school trips to France.

Shortly before Christmas, Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti persuaded the Commission to threaten France with legal action in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) unless it applied 1992 legislation recognising qualifications obtained in other EU member states to individuals wishing to operate on French slopes.

The full Commission is due to decide this month whether to press ahead with a second legal challenge against Paris.

The latest moves are directed at France's failure to implement Article 59 of the Treaty of Rome, under which people qualified to offer services in one country can do so in another.

“If anything, the problems are even more serious here. People are being prosecuted under criminal charges with the possibility of fines or imprisonment. The issue must be tackled urgently,” said one EU official.

Monti's attack on French restrictions is part of a wider campaign to remove the obstacles which prevent people from using their recognised qualifications to work in other EU countries.

Meanwhile, the fight for equal treatment being waged by foreign lecturers in Italy received a boost last week when an administrative appeal court in Venice asked the ECJ to rule for the third time on Italy's refusal to grant 1,500 foreign language lecturers equivalent professional status.