On alleged discrimination between Italian teachers in the procedure governing admission to reserve lists for teaching staff 

The petitioner describes the alleged discrimination faced by 55 000 people with non-university teaching diplomas (‘diploma magistrale’) as a result of a judgment delivered by the Council of State in plenary session (Judgment No 11 of 20/12/17). The judgment ruled against the petitioner’s employment category, in terms of whether or not it was legitimate to include on closed reserve lists (GAE) those who had been awarded secondary school teaching diplomas prior to 2001-2002, after permanent ranking (reserve) lists had been converted into closed reserve lists called ‘graduatorie ad esaurimento’ (GAE), one of the arguments being that the ‘diploma magistrale’ was inadequate as an enabling qualification for the purpose of inclusion on GAE reserve lists. This judgments runs counter to a well-established position of the 6th Chamber of the Council of State itself and it would mean that the teachers in question would be barred from any form of teaching in state schools and accredited (semi-private) schools. Moreover, some 10 000 teachers, recruited under open-ended contracts, would be liable to be made redundant, despite the fact that they have already been confirmed in their permanent posts. The unequal treatment of the Italian teachers affected by the above-mentioned judgment would also affect nationals of other Member States, such as Romania, who have been deemed eligible to teach in Italian primary schools with foreign diplomas comparable to those of Italian teachers with ‘magistrale’ teaching diplomas. Ultimately, the ruling of the plenary session of the Council of State would conflict with Clause 5 of the framework agreement on fixed-term work annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999, since the failure to include certain teachers on GAE closed reserve lists would mean that teachers holding a ‘diploma magistrale’ would be unable to avail themselves of any effective preventive or punitive measures relating to the unlawful (10-year) renewals of their fixed-term contracts. It would also be in breach of Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications.