The European Commission threatens to bring the Portuguese state to the Court of Justice of the European Union if the state does not resolve the “discriminatory” treatment of contract teachers, who do not belong to the staff. In dispute, the terms given to those teachers who always get the same salary, the lowest in their career, which exceeds a net 1,000 euros per month, even if they have been studying for one or two decades.
The commission opened infringement proceedings in November against Portugal For failure to comply with EU law due to what he saw as discriminatory treatment of contract teachers. Earlier this year, the Portuguese state formally responded to Brussels’ accusations. However, “in its response, Portugal could not justify the differences in treatment,” understands the body headed by Ursula von der Leyen.
For this reason, Brussels last week sent a reasoned opinion to Portugal, the second stage of the encroachment measures against the EU countries. “Portugal now has two months to take the necessary measures,” the European Commission urged in a statement. Otherwise, you can refer the country to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
According to the European Executive, the terms of employment are stipulated by Portuguese legislation less convenient For teachers who work for fixed terms in Portuguese public schools compared to permanent teachers, ie in terms of salary and seniority.
Contract teachers always get the same salary, which is the lowest in their career, which is just over 1,000 euros, no matter how many years they have been in their career.
Brussels discloses its concerns based on the principle of non-discrimination, arguing that EU legislation, i.e. the Framework Convention attached to Council Directive 1999/70/EC, states that differences in treatment are permissible only if they are justified by objective reasons. The executive branch of the community assures that such justification does not exist in Portuguese legislation.
Since November, the Ministry of Education has been publicly silent on the issue. At the time, the office of the then Minister, Thiago Brandao Rodrigues, added that the procedure opened by the European Commission was still being analyzed, and kept commenting on the matter for later.
Operation opened in November
PBLICO has insisted on questions over the past few months, trying to understand the arguments the Portuguese state has used in response to the encroachment procedure opened by Brussels. However, the guardianship did not respond.
In light of the aggravation of the issue, which meant the sending of a reasoned opinion by the European Commission last week, the Ministry of Education was questioned again. Joao Costa’s office, which now handles the suitcase, also did not respond to questions sent.
The process opened by Brussels in November referred to the limitations of national legislation, but also referred to the specific case of the Azores, where “the legislation does not provide sufficient measures to avoid possible violations that may result from the use of successive fixed-term employment contraction.” .
The autonomous region is no longer a target in the statement now announced by the commission. At the end of last year, the Azores government ensured that it had already made changes to the teacher recruitment system that allowed the problem to be resolved offensive resource to fixed-term contracts, which were indicated by Brussels.
The contention was the fact that, unlike what happened on the continent in 2015, the autonomous region has not transferred into its legislation the European directive prohibiting the abusive use of fixed-term contracts. By imposing Brussels, the Ministry of Education, at the time led by Nuno Krato, created the so-called Brake Base, which guarantees admission to employees of contract teachers who comply with a certain number of instructions. The region now has a solution similar to the one already in place on the continent, allowing more than 300 teachers to join the staff at the start of this academic year.
