Brussels, 10/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice of the EU ruled (case C-270/13) on Wednesday 10 September that a member state - Italy, in the case in point - could not reserve the post of President of a Port Authority to its nationals alone. Not allowing nationals of other member states access to this position constitutes discrimination on the grounds of nationality, it ruled.
The Court had been asked by the Italian Council of State, which was hearing a case in which an Italian applicant for the post of President of the Port Authority of Brindisi challenged the decision to appoint a Greek national, arguing that the candidate selected did not possess Italian nationality, as required under Italian law for appointment to a senior public service post.
In its judgment, the Court ruled, on the contrary, that the post of President of a Port Authority cannot be considered as a high public administration office to which only nationals of the country may be appointed. Basing its ruling on its own case law (rulings C-290 and C-515/94), where it defined the concept of “public service” as covering “posts which involve direct or indirect participation in the exercise of powers conferred by public law and duties designed to safeguard the general interest of the State”, decided that the President of a Port Authority does not come within that category for which derogation to the freedom of movement for workers in the internal market might apply. The Court says that the President of a Port Authority: - must be considered to be a “worker” within the meaning of the Treaty, since that person performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for which he/she receives remuneration set by reference to that of a senior official of the public administration; - coordinates and promotes the activities of bodies which are not themselves entrusted with duties in the public service; - only under certain circumstances is empowered to adopt binding decisions in order to safeguard the general interests of the State. Consequently, the post of President of a Port Authority remains subject to freedom of movement of workers and cannot be reserved to nationals in breach of the principle of non-discrimination based on nationality (our translation throughout). (FG)