enforcement actions against member states
We have been talking about whether enforcement actions are (consistently) effective. Today, Advocate General Poiares Maduro proposes a daily fine of EUR 265,500 for Italy (the Commission had asked for a fine of Eur 309,750 per day) for its failure to comply with a 2001 judgment of the ECJ:
On 26 June 2001, in Case C-212/99 Commission v Italy, the Court found Italy to have failed to fulfil its obligations under the provisions of the EC Treaty guaranteeing free movement of workers, by not guaranteeing recognition of the acquired rights of former foreign language assistants in six Italian universities (La Basilicata, Milan, Palermo, Pisa, La Sapienza in Rome and the Eastern University Institute in Naples), even though such recognition was guaranteed to Italian nationals.
The ECJ has not ruled on this question of whether the fine is appropriate and if so, how much it should be. I wonder how long it will take Italy to comply with the original judgment?