Brussels, 20/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - The case regarding the immediate dismissal last June of 43 language teachers by the European Commission is still underway. After MEPs' demonstration of solidarity with teachers last week (EUROPE of 15 January, p.13), Thierry Claeys, lawyer for 43 language teachers concerned, has filed a complaint before the Labour Tribunal in Brussels for wrongful dismissal. He said the collective dismissal took place without prior information or consultation. The Commission, the lawyer argues in a press release, has thus violated the directives that it imposes on all employers in Member States. According to the argument for the defence of the teachers dismissed, the Commission has respected neither the fundamental rights that appear in the European Social Charter and constitutional law, nor Belgian law.
During a joint press conference with Maître Claeys on 18 January in Brussels, Roger Blanpain, Professor emeritus in Belgian and European labour law, felt that, in this case, the Commission has displayed “social cannibalism”. The Commission must be found guilty of not having complied with its own rules, Blanpain states, calling on the European Parliament to “examine the matter and to ensure that such forms of social cannibalism do not happen again”.