La partecipazione dei lavoratori ultracinquantenni al mercato del lavoro, tra promozione dell'invecchiamento attivo e divieto di discriminazione in base all'età

The article investigates the attitude of the European Union action in the field of non-discrimination for reasons of age to give support to active aging policy. After having delineated the extend of the principle of non-discrimination in the primary law, the main object of the study is the Directive n. 2000/78/EC which implements the prohibition of discrimination based on age in the workplace. The act recognizes a wide margin of derogation in favour of member States and has been the object of several judgements by the European Court of Justice which has confirmed the broad scope of the derogations provided therein. Therefore, because of the limited protection that the principle of non-discrimination for reasons of age benefits in the EU, member States are not encouraged to adopt more inclusive policies, in the labour market, for workers over 50.