Here we go again. Hope springs, etc. After all, to solve the Lettori issue, all that needs to be done is to apply the law, which has been systematically and deliberately ignored and misinterpreted by both State and university authorities. By applying the law, the foreign citizens who have been discriminated against for so long would see their past and present remuneration fixed at the level set by Italy’s own national legislation, and the University system would gain the full cooperation of a host of skilled teachers, which it desperately needs but currently quarantines on half-pay. But I’m not betting on a solution from anyone in Rome or Brussels. I can’t support my pessimism more clearly than by quoting from a letter I wrote to the Editor of the European Voice in January 2011, on the same old subject: “Italy has got away with it in the past. In 2006, the European Court of Justice once again found Italy guilty of discrimination against the lettori, but failed to impose fines – the only punishment of any relevance for the cynical Italian State – in a travesty of justice which stank of collusion with a government then headed by Romano Prodi. The Court itself even admitted it had taken into account only the evidence submitted by the universities themselves, which was in large part false and misleading: a chummy arrangement indeed, with the very parties that were already known to have been infringing Community law on the issue for a quarter of a century!” Now it’s well over a quarter of a century, and nothing has changed in Milan University where I work. Time is running out for myself and the many other foreign-language university lecturers around the country who are waiting for justice to be done – I repeat again, not waiting for a pipe dream, merely waiting for the application of legislation that already exists. In 10-15 years, most of us will be either retired or dead, which of course is what the Italian State has wanted all along. Is that what the European Commission wants, too? If not, there is only one way to change the Italian government’s mind: the imposition of appropriately heavy fines after yet more infringement proceedings on the same, decades-old issue. Do they actually care about European citizens’ rights in Brussels, or only about cozy relations with governments? We shall see.

At the University of Bergamo, we started legal proceedings way back in 1994. After a long, tortuous, roller-coaster ride through the Italian justice system, we finally thought we had come to a satisfactory end in 2009 only to find that the Gelmini law effectively brought everything to a halt and authorised the university not to pay us our due. Personally from one month to the next, I saw my salary cut by 60% to a level that was, in practical terms, barely above the poverty line. In all honesty, I share John Young's pessismism. So far, despite the untiring commitment of David Petrie and despite the sentences of the European Court of Justice, very little has changed. We are fed up of all the empty words, we are fed up of being constantly frustrated by unkept promises, even now the Italian government still refuses to firmly commit themselves to repealing the Gelmini law. We are only asking to be treated as qualified, professional teachers (not technicians) should be and the fact that successive Italian governments have not solved this increasingly urgent issue suggests that they simply do not want to.    Judith Evans, University of Bergamo

 The tale of a trick: how Italy poisons the well of justice and cheats on equal and fair treatment under European single market rules.  Italy has lost 6 cases in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – but continues its illegal discrimination based on nationality.  Italy changed its law in 1995 - law 236. In 2001 the ECJ ruled that law 236 did not conform to EU law. Italy changed its law in 2004 – law 63. Satisfied that law 63 conforms to EU law, the ECJ (in 2006) decided not to fine Italy to the tune of €390.750 per day – as requested by the ECJ’s advocate general, Poiares Maduro. Italy changes its law again, 2010 – law 240, the “Gelmini law” which re-imposes law 236 – already condemned by the ECJ. One thinker, Domenico Pacitti,  predicted this in an interview  on 26 August 2003. “Well, let me just take this opportunity in order to warn Europeans that Italy’s major contribution to Europe will be to teach their colleagues in other EU member states the two related arts of evading the law and legislating in order to facilitate law evasion at a later date.” David PetrieChair ALLSI petried@sis.it+39 347 4297324

The unsolved lettori issue, ongoing for far too long, is basically an issue of parity of treatment and freedom of movement for workers within the EU.  The fact that Italy is about to be brought in front of the European Court of Justice for the seventh time on this same issue evidently shows that something isn’t working.What’s surprising is that only the British government (current and previous), alone of all the member states, has ever intervened to uphold this central tenet of the EU. In a quarter of a century, we’ve seen our rights constantly bypassed by ad-hoc measures taken by successive Italian governments, which appear to comply with European law against discrimination, but in actual fact evade its implementation. In April 2008, after 14 years in litigation against the University of Bergamo, our salaries were finally brought in line with those of other Italian university teachers as the result of a court ruling. We thought justice was finally being done, and that all the time, effort and money that we’d been putting into our court case was finally paying off. Then, three years later, along came the made-to-measure Gelmini Law, which literally “extinguishes” - wipes out - past Italian court rulings for lettori, and only for lettori, mind you, not for any other category of Italian workers. The university promptly used this to slash our salaries and block payment of arrears owed to us. Back to square one. Needless to say, no other Italian employees at Bergamo University have suffered similar cuts. A clear violation of workers’ rights and EU law, which the British government is doing much to redress. Isn’t it time other member states started doing something too?Here at Bergamo University, of the seventeen lettori who started the lawsuit, only 7 of us are still working, 9 have retired and one has died. Time is indeed running out.Susan PerzolliUniversity of Bergamo    

The unsolved lettori issue, ongoing for far too long, is basically an issue of parity of treatment and freedom of movement for workers within the EU.  The fact that Italy is about to be brought in front of the European Court of Justice for the seventh time on this same issue evidently shows that something isn’t working.What’s surprising is that only the British government (current and previous), alone of all the member states, has ever intervened to uphold this central tenet of the EU. In a quarter of a century, we’ve seen our rights constantly bypassed by ad-hoc measures taken by successive Italian governments, which appear to comply with European law against discrimination, but in actual fact evade its implementation. In April 2008, after 14 years in litigation against the University of Bergamo, our salaries were finally brought in line with those of other Italian university teachers as the result of a court ruling. We thought justice was finally being done, and that all the time, effort and money that we’d been putting into our court case was finally paying off. Then, three years later, along came the made-to-measure Gelmini Law, which literally “extinguishes” - wipes out - past Italian court rulings for lettori, and only for lettori, mind you, not for any other category of Italian workers. The university promptly used this to slash our salaries and block payment of arrears owed to us. Back to square one. Needless to say, no other Italian employees at Bergamo University have suffered similar cuts. A clear violation of workers’ rights and EU law, which the British government is doing much to redress. Isn’t it time other member states started doing something too?Here at Bergamo University, of the seventeen lettori who started the lawsuit, only 7 of us are still working, 9 have retired and one has died. Time is indeed running out.Susan PerzolliUniversity of Bergamo    

The experience of the lettori in Italy shows that the envisaged mechanisms for resolving disputes and punishing violation of treaty obligations are wholly inadequate: if decades of litigation and six rulings by the ECJ on the issue haven't convinced the Italian government that it needs to step into line, then the message is that obeying the rules is for suckers. As Pacitti warned nearly a decade ago, Italy is setting an appalling example; what does it say about the EU if a founder member can display such contempt for its citizens and institutions for so long?

 I am  a German lecturer  working at the State University of Milan since 1984/85. My situation is the same as my British colleagues'. But there is an enormous and fundamental difference. My British colleagues over all the years of fighting for rights and against discrimination have been supported by the British government.  German lecturers not.   I am very  grateful to Mr. Cameron and his staff for going on to fight with David Petrie and  the Allsi group in Europe. But  over these years  of legal proceedings (more than 25) I now regret not being a British Citizen. Requests  to my government always failed – only  a few MEPs supported  our case  voting  for Allsi initiatives in European Parliament or commissions. Despite teaching German language and culture to hundreds and hundreds of students  every year  in Italian  Universities the German government  continues to ignore that the German lecturers in Italy exist and that there has been a violation of European Treaty on free circulation of workers for more than 25 years.And if there will not be a final judgment with heavy  fines  for to oblige Italian government to apply ECJ  decisions most of us will have to turn to Germany and ask for social security because if Italy will not apply ECJ decisions  our pension rights will be inferior to the limit of sustainment fixed by international criteria.So once more:  thank you so much Mr. Cameron for all you are doing for us. Without  British sense of democracy  and justice  - which  makes Britain great -  and without British tenacity no decision by European Court could be obtained. I wish I could thank German government but they have not done enough – which is shameful Margit Kohl