On 2 February 2023, EUROMIL’s President, Mr Emmanuel Jacob, travelled to Rome.

Meeting with NSC – Nuovo Sindacato Carabinieri

Mr Jacob has been invited to discuss EUROMIL’s work at the NSC’s Direttivo Nazionale (Board meeting). The President presented EUROMIL’s objectives and tasks while underlining the ever-lasting aspiration of progressing the Italian trade union situation, an aim that has been there since the foundation of EUROMIL in 1972. Much has been done since then; nonetheless, the 2022 Law on the representation of the Italian forces does not serve its purpose of granting trade union rights to military personnel.

Participants engaged in an interesting discussion and posed questions to Mr Jacob, focusing on the trade union rights situation in other countries. The audience queried which countries are struggling with trade union rights and which tools could be effective for achieving such rights. Mr Jacob highlighted how the situation on trade union rights vastly varies between European countries, with Spain and Portugal having similar situations to the Italian one. Tools to achieve greater rights can be identified in lobbying at the national level and initiating court cases, although this being an option that not always leads to the desired outcome.

At the end of the presentation, Roberto Di Stefano, NSC’s National Secretary, thanked EUROMIL’s President for his insightful contributions and affirmed that Nuovo Sindacato Carabinieri will keep working for the promotion of military personnel’s rights.

Meeting with CGIL and Assodipro

Following the meeting with NSC, Mr Jacob met with CGIL representatives and Mr Pesciaioli from Assodipro, long-standing partner of EUROMIL, to discuss about the trade union rights situation for military personnel in Italy.

Specifically, the topics touched upon the Law on the representation of the Italian Armed Forces, the increasing rate of suicides among military personnel, and the recent European Commission’s proposals for strengthening social dialogue. The discussion focused on the latter, as the Commission initiative can be seen as a step on the right path towards greater rights in the Armed Forces, thus creating a timely discussion on how the social dialogue can be used to improve working conditions. Furthermore, the participants discussed how acquired rights can be defended and how data on suicide is collected across Europe. The discussion was concluded by highlighting how suicide in the military is caused by working conditions and not, as often stated, by personal situations.

From left to right: Giuseppe Pesciaioli (Assodipro), Samantha Giusti (translator for Mr Pesciaioli) , Emmanuel Jacob (EUROMIL), Fabrizio Spinetti (CGIL),  Massimo Brancato (CGIL), Luciano Silvestri (CGIL) and Maurizio Viscione (CGIL).