Longford campaigner hits out at ‘rude’ EU Commission over discrimination case

A Longford man, who is leading a legal battle in the EU’s longest-running discrimination case, has hit out at the lack of 'transparency' and described the European Commission's decision to close the case and 'evade' questions as being 'bad manners and downright rude'.

Henry Rodgers has lived in Italy for 37 years and he has campaigned tirelessly for almost four decades in Europe alongside over 400 trade union colleagues for equal employment pay and conditions for non-national lecturers who are European Union citizens.

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Mr Rodgers said there is huge frustration and some anger following the unexpected and surprising European Commission's decision to close the case on July 17 last and end the decades-long 'discrimination against foreign-language lecturers'.

In October, Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who had the support of eight Irish MEPs Michael McNamara, Billy Kelleher, Barry Andrews, Ciaran Mullooly, Barry Cowen, Luke 'Ming' Flanagan and Kathleen Funchion tabled a follow up to her question of March 31 to the European Commission.

The follow up said “the Commission in its reply of June 10 to question E-001324/2025 stated that Case C-519/23 ‘is currently pending at the Court of Justice’, will the Commission explain what subsequent factors caused it to close the case on July 17 2025?”

In a statement on October 20, Ms Ní Mhurchú said that “The treatment of foreign lecturers by Italian universities undermines the fundamental principle of free movement within the EU.”

She added that she was “incredibly disappointed with the Commission's opaque handling" of this case.

"They have repeatedly provided incomplete and non-committal responses to parliamentary questions.

"To respond to my office that the case is 'pending at the Court of Justice' and a month later to drop that case without explanation and without giving all parties the chance to be heard, raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the Commission's actions.”

Mr Rodgers compared the parliamentary questions put down in the Dáil Éireann and what is happening in Brussels.

"If you put down the parliamentary question in Dáil you get an answer to the question you actually put down.

"The questions that the Irish MEPs put down, they were answered within brackets, but they weren't answered [properly].

"Some of the legal points weren't even acknowledged.

"This, to us, seems a big discourtesy.

"These people are elected public representatives of the people."

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Mr Rodgers said the core of their long-running campaign is 'parity of treatment'.

“The European Commission itself said, this is the most important right under the treaty of the European Union.

“We tried every possible means of legal redress that exists, and still Italy will not comply.”