{"id":470016,"date":"2026-11-03T15:34:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T14:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/11\/03\/dubbi-della-commissione-ue-sul-tetto-agli-stranieri-in-classe-i-trattati-vietano-la-discriminazione\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T16:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:41:46","slug":"eu-commission-raises-concerns-over-cap-on-the-number-of-foreign-pupils-per-class-the-treaties-prohibit-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/11\/03\/eu-commission-raises-concerns-over-cap-on-the-number-of-foreign-pupils-per-class-the-treaties-prohibit-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission raises concerns over cap on the number of foreign pupils per class: the Treaties prohibit discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The European Commission has raised concerns about the cap on the number of foreign pupils in Italian classrooms: prompted to address the issue by a parliamentary question tabled by the PD, the Berlaymont Building has implicitly given Rome a refresher lesson <\/span>on compliance with the EU Treaties and the principle of non-discrimination<\/strong>. At the heart of the issue is the 30 per cent threshold measure concerning pupils without Italian citizenship and those born abroad, introduced by Giorgia Meloni\u2019s government. The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Social Policies, Skills and Education, Roxana M\u00eenzatu<\/strong>, has raised doubts about the measure\u2019s compatibility with European law in response to a parliamentary question tabled by the Democratic Party<\/a> to the European Parliament asking the Berlaymont building whether \u201ca difference in treatment based expressly on citizenship\u201d could \u201cbe permitted under EU law, and, if so, under what conditions.\u201d <\/p>\n

In her reply<\/a>, M\u00eenzatu points out that the European Treaties prohibit all forms of \u201cdiscrimination on grounds of nationality,\u201d<\/strong> whether \u201cdirect\u201d \u2013 that is, where \u201ca rule expressly distinguishes on the basis of nationality\u201d \u2013 or \u201cindirect\u201d \u2013 that is, where \u201cother criteria for differentiation effectively lead to the same result.\u201d Discrimination of this kind is permitted under EU law only where specific derogations provided for in the Treaties apply, for example on grounds of public order, public security, or public health. Even in these cases, the Vice-President points out, the derogations must be interpreted \u201crestrictively.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Commission\u2019s referral thus raises questions regarding the compatibility of the Italian measure with the European principles of non-discrimination. The response<\/strong>, however, does not in itself amount to a formal ruling that the decree is unlawful, nor does it imply that Brussels has taken any action against the Italian government regarding the decree-law on education<\/strong>. To determine whether the measure infringes EU law, it would be necessary to assess its provisions and effects in concrete terms. However, M\u00eenzatu assures us that \u201cthe Commission is monitoring the matter closely, paying particular attention to the provisions\u201d on which the question was based. <\/p>\n

The European Commission\u2019s stance was emphasised by Nicola Zingaretti<\/a><\/strong>, head of the PD delegation to the European Parliament, who had tabled the question. \u201cThe European Commission\u2019s response to our question is clear. The Meloni government\u2019s decree capping the number of foreign pupils in classes is not only devoid of any common sense<\/strong> and out of touch with the reality of our schools: it also contravenes the European Treaties<\/strong>,\u201d he states. <\/p>\n

For Zingaretti, the way forward does not lie in introducing quotas, but in strengthening the education system. “The Italian school system does not need quotas, but investment<\/strong>: teachers of Italian as a second language, cultural mediators, smaller class sizes, more full-time provision, and measures to tackle early school leaving,” he emphasises, calling on the government to \u201cwithdraw the decree before Europe imposes on us to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice-President M\u00eenzatu\u2019s response to a question from the PD. Zingaretti: \u201cThe Italian education system does not need quotas, but investment\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":469981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25713,25712,25681],"tags":[36493,36494,34405,27109,26205,25830,36495,30081,27526,31188,36496,33394],"class_list":["post-470016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-general-news","category-politics","tag-alunni-stranieri","tag-cittadini-non-italiani","tag-governo-italiano","tag-immigrati-en","tag-immigration-en-2","tag-governo-meloni-en","tag-minzatu","tag-roxana-minzatu-en","tag-schooland","tag-foreigners-en","tag-tetto-scolastico","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470017,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470016\/revisions\/470017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}