Page 12 - ELG2410 October Issue 492

NEWS .

Lettori fight continues

in the ECHR

David Petrie reports on the recent developments in the fight to secure
damages for foreign lecturers in Italy.

awyers acting for ALLSI, However, the University of
the Association of Foreign Brescia appealed, citing the so-
Lecturers in Italy, have called Gelmini law of 2011 and
L lodged a case, 8 August subsequent supplementary measures
2024, with the European Court retroactively reinterpreting and
of Human Rights (ECHR) in leapfrogging the binding judgments
Strasbourg, seeking damages of the CJEU of 2001 and 2006.
totalling €352,450 for violation When there appears to be a
of the right to a fair trial, under conflict between EU law and
Article 6 of the European national law, Article 267 of the
Convention on Human Rights, EU Treaty stipulates that a lower
and violation of the right to court ‘may’ refer the case to the
a fair trial on the grounds of CJEU for a preliminary ruling on
unreasonable duration. how the law is to be interpreted,
Two British lecturers, Robert and that a final court ‘against
Coates and Dermot Costello (who whose decisions there is no
also holds Irish citizenship) were judicial remedy under national
first employed by the University law’, that court or tribunal ‘shall’
of Brescia in 1986. They were bring the matter before the Court.
paid less than their Italian Despite the request by our
colleagues and consistently less lawyer, Professor Lorenzo Picotti
than that stipulated by the legal of the Verona Bar, who has
framework (Italian law 63 of successfully pled two foreign
2004) approved by the Court of lecturers cases in the CJEU, both
Justice of the European Union the Brescia Court of Appeal and
(CJEU) on 18 July 2006 as having the Court of Cassation refused
the potential to remove the to refer to the CJEU. It is this
illegitimate discrimination based refusal that prematurely blocks judgment from the Strasbourg be ringing at the offices of the
on nationality that the Court had their access to a fair trial along Court, as the guarantor of the European Union: Italy, a founder
found in 2001. with the unreasonable duration of rights of citizens, who can directly member of the EU, is turning its
Thirty-three miles to the west the trials that were first brought appeal under the Convention back on a rules-based legal order.
of Brescia lies the University in 1994 that forms the substance and get a pronouncement on this Governments of the United
of Bergamo, where colleagues of the present application to the persistent unfairness.’ Kingdom have been conspicuous
employed there under the same ECHR for damages. This new dimension in the in their support for British
legal framework as the Brescia Professor Avv. Picotti issued the European Court of Human Rights lecturers in Italy, with the former
two are being paid more than following statement: will present Italy with a massive UK Minister David Lidington
double and are also receiving ‘It is important and necessary to headache of its own making. The describing Italy’s behaviour as
pension and social security refer the matter to the European European Court of Human Rights ‘both immoral and illegal.’
contributions commensurate with Court of Human Rights, because considers two years duration in At a meeting in the Rome
law 63 of 2004. national judges are not applying normal cases to be reasonable. Embassy on 29 July 2024, British
Thirty-six miles to the west European Union law nor the The Coates and Costello case has Ambassador Edward Llewellyn
of Bergamo is the University of judgments of the Court of Justice. now lasted for two decades. pledged his support. We are
Milan, where 33 lecturers accepted This can be evidenced by the fact Worse, Italy now risks a plethora seeking a meeting with the
€5.4 million in compensation and that the European Commission of compensation applications to Minister in the UK Cabinet Office
the dispute was closed. has had to initiate a third liability the Strasbourg Court from foreign for relations with the EU, Nick
Mr Coates and Mr Costello, case against Italy to deal with lecturers similarly tied up for years Thomas-Symonds, who met us in
and indeed hundreds of their the ongoing discriminatory in Italy’s dis-functioning courts Westminster in 2017 along with
colleagues throughout Italy, have treatment of foreign mother- in Bologna, Catania, Florence, his constituent, Ms Judith Evans,
been let down both by their tongue lecturers in Italy; the Naples, Milan IULM, Pisa, Roma, who is now fully compensated by
employers who deny liability, and seventh case since 1989 that the Florence, Salento, Siena, Venice the University of Bergamo.
by inconsistent and contradictory CJEU will adjudicate. and Verona.
rulings in Italy’s lumbering courts. ‘It is very serious indeed that not Successive Italian governments David Petrie is
In 2011 a Brescia labour court even the Court of Cassation has have shown a willingness to chair of ALLSI,
awarded them damages totalling requested the Court of Justice itself introduce retroactive legislation the Association of
€282,811 for arrears on unpaid for a preliminary interpretation in order to influence the outcome Foreign Lecturers
wages, in line with law 63 of 2004 of the rules in question. For this of scores of legal cases that are in Italy.
and the case law of the CJEU. reason it is essential to get a pending. Alarm bells should
12 October 2024