ROME-Commissioner Viviane Reding has acknowledged curtly David Cameron's request for EU action on Italy's discrimination against foreign lecturers, but refrained from stating if she would move to redress the blatant injustice. 

 

Commissioner Reding's laconic letter to David Cameron stated that she had passed the issue on to László Andor, who is the Commissioner responsible for employment and social affairs.

 

The Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI), which has been fighting the controversial Gelmini law since it passed in 2010, has expressed its disappointment in Commissioner Reding for not showing a more immediate interest in the case.

 

"Redding is the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights," said a senior ALLSI source, "the right to equal treatment in employment in Europe is quite clearly fundamental."

 

Commissioner Reding did state, however, that she has copied the letter to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and also has informed the European Commission's Legal Service and the Secretariat General on the issue.