Abused expat lecturers in Italy: 'Europe must act' The Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI), headed by David Petrie, a Scotsman who teaches English at the University of Verona, estimates that around 400 expat lecturers are affected. According to Petrie, the universities have simply ignored the court rulings. Further lawsuits being pursued by the lettori were blocked by the Gelmini law - named after a former Italian education minister - which came into force in 2011. It overturned the European Court rulings, redrew the terms under which the lecturers were employed and extinguished further lawsuits that were in the pipeline. Petrie first petitioned the European Parliament over the matter in 1993 - and the petition remains open today. According to McMillan-Scott, a member of the petitions committee, the European Commission stated in February 2012 that it would look into the implications of the Gelmini law and report back. "To date, we have not heard from the commission," he complained. It should not take the commission over a year to communicate to the petitions committee the developments of this case. And it should not take over thirty years for EU citizens to get justice for what can only be described as race discrimination. Petrie, 61, who originally hails from Dunbarton, also addressed the press conference at the European Parliament. He praised British and European MPs - including Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague - who have spoken out over the discrimination. They are all decent fair-minded and powerful people, but powerless in the face of Italy's 30 year vendetta against citizens simply trying to claim equality of treatment with Italian citizens. That vendetta is now compounded by further discriminatory legislation with xenophobic and racist overtones," he said. Petrie called on MEPs to address the issue in the run up to the 2014 European elections. "A Europe which tramples on the rights of law abiding citizens in order to serve the corrupt and the powerful has no future," he said.