Foreign Lecturers ´lettori’ seek police probe into false statements by Italy

 ROME -- David Petrie, the 74 year old chairman of ALLSI, The Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy trade union deposited a report Thursday with the Italian police to be forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office in Rome, asking the prosecutor to acquire all documents sent by the Italian authorities to the European Commission pertaining to infringement proceedings in case C-519/23, Commission v Italy, and to ascertain whether or not said documents constitute misrepresentation of facts and/or omission of official acts pursuant to Articles 479 and 328(1) of the Italian Criminal Code. 

 The European Court of Justice has ruled 6 times in cases concerning foreign lecturers “lettori” in Italian universities, finding illegitimate discrimination based on nationality. Yet after 35 years of litigation parity of treatment with Italian teaching staff has not been achieved. 

 On May 24, 2023 Italian Ministerial decree, 688, allocated funds for co-financing to the universities in order to pay the arrears in unpaid wages due to the lettori. 

On Aug. 10, 2023, the European Commission launched a 7th case, C-519/23, against Italy saying that the lecturers had still not received compensation in line with previous rulings of the European Court of Justice.

  However, recently appointed Milanese European Commission Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr Mario Nava, wrote to David Petrie on 22 July 2025 saying that the Italian authorities had informed the Commission that it had “successfully disbursed the payment of sums due to all former lettori identified as eligible”. For this reason, Mr Nava said that “the Court case could not be further pursued since the grievances raised in the application to the Court in case C-519/23 had been resolved” adding that “Due to the urgency to withdraw, which can be identified as exceptional circumstances…the complainants could not be informed about the decision to withdraw in advance”. 

  Prof. Petrie’s report to the prosecutor’s offices identifies 9 universities, Bari, Basilicata, Bologna, Pisa, Rome La Sapienza, Salerno, Siena, Venice and Verona where no co-funding was sought or disbursed and 5 universities, Brescia, Catania, Milan, Padova and Turin where some compensation was made. 

 Prof. Petrie said “There appears to be a very serious and profound discrepancy between what has been stated by the Italian authorities and what has actually been implemented by Italian universities. The majority of lettorihave not been compensated and so the information supplied to the Commission would appear  to be incomplete, inaccurate, partial, if not downright false”. 

  “Only at the University of Milan that participated in the co-financing was a settlement reached with 31 of its lecturers.

European Commission has lost its way

 Prof. Petrie said: “By accepting unverified information emanating from the Italian state, Mr Nava’s letter shows how woefully the European Commission has lost its way. What trust can we EU citizens have in an institution that can see for 35 years that a wrong has been done and yet fail to ensure that the wrong has been righted.”