Monti must act quickly on discriminatory lecturers’ pay

Will the new Italian prime minister address a long-standing problem?

You rightly pointed out in your Entre Nous article ‘Will Italy now put an end to an ancient wrong?” (17-23 November) that Mario Monti has “many things on his plate” as he enters his new role as the Italian caretaker prime minister.

You suggested, though, that he “might take time out from Italy’s political in-fighting to right an ancient wrong: the legal status of foreign lecturers in Italy”. I would say that he should address this issue of discriminatory pay as a matter of urgency. As your article noted, this is something that has been ignored by successive Italian governments for 25 years.

Monti should address this issue immediately not least because it directly contravenes the most basic elements of labour laws within the EU. These include the right to the free movement of labour, in addition to the guarantee of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality, as outlined in the Lisbon treaty.

I urge Monti to look again at Italy’s Gelmini reforms, which reinterpreted a European Court of Justice judgment to the detriment of foreign-language lecturers working in Italy, and revise this ruling.

The current situation has been further compounded by the cost of legal fees that the foreign-language lecturers have been faced with after they were forced to bring their case before the courts.

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I have also tabled a written question for the European Commission on this important issue, to which I am awaiting a response.

Mary Honeyball MEP

Brussels