ROME -- The Scottish Professor and lecturer at Verona University David Petrie will meet Tuesday (Jan. 31) with the EU Minister Sir Alan Duncan to present a petition signed by 54 UK lettori, complaining of Italy's race law - that has been used to cut their salaries and extinguish court cases that are pending. 

 Italian governments have failed to implement six judgements of the European Court of Justice concerning foreign lecturers -- lettori -- in Italian universities, over a period of three decades.

 Professor Petrie and colleagues Robert Coates, Judith Evans and Tim Longworth from the universities of Bergamo, Brescia and Catania, who also meet their constituency MPs in the UK; Deidre Brock, Roger Mullin, Nick Thomas-Symond and David Davies. The MPs are to propose and Early Day Motion for Debate in the House of Commons. 

 The MEP Jude Kirton-Darling said about the topic --"The failure of the Commission to act over the extinguishing of the lettori cases is inexcusable. We've heard in the Petitions Committee how EU law has clearly been infringed by a member state who has failed to enforce equal employment rights for those exercising their right to free movement.”

 “Furthermore, the Brescia Court of Appeal has applied an Italian law - known as Gelmini - which ends the cases of these 3 non-Italian workers, thereby denying them a judicial remedy. This is a violation of citizens' right to an effective remedy and a fair trial as enshrined in EU law.”

 “It is time for the European Commission to stop kicking the can down the road and act on behalf of citizens," Kirton-Darling concluded.

 On Nov. 23 2016, the Italian Court of Cassation declined to refer three separate cases to the EU Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling, despite the obligation to do so, under Article 267 of the Treaty.

  The Association of Foreign Lecturers’ lawyers are now working on a fresh complaint to the Commission alleging infraction of Article 267.

 nkd