Education: the EU on the cap on foreign students: ‘The treaties prohibit discrimination’. Valditara: ‘We’re pressing ahead’

The EU Commission is ‘closely monitoring’ legislative developments regarding the decree-law on education adopted in Italia. This was stated by the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Roxana Mînzatu, in response to a question from the PD in the European Parliament, noting that the EU Treaties prohibit all forms of ‘discrimination on grounds of nationality’, whether ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’. The Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, was quick to respond: “The cap on foreign students who do not speak Italian promotes integration; there is no discrimination whatsoever; we will press ahead without hesitation.”

The ‘Scuola’ decree, currently before Parliament, introduces by law a 30 per cent cap on the number of foreign pupils in a class, with a whole series of exceptions. According to the Vice-President of the European Commission, discrimination on the grounds of nationality is ‘permitted under EU law’ only ‘where a derogation provided for in the Treaty applies’, for example on ‘grounds of public order, public security or public health’. In any case, such derogations must be interpreted ‘narrowly’.

“The problem does not exist. The government is pressing ahead without hesitation,” was Minister Valditara’s response to the European Union regarding the decree setting a cap on the number of foreign pupils in schools. “Given that education is not a matter falling exclusively within the EU’s remit, as all international reports indicate,” explained the Minister for Education, “the measure is designed to promote integration: it applies to those foreign nationals who do not speak the language and therefore does not constitute any form of discrimination. In most European countries, foreign students arriving for the first time are even placed in separate classes.”