EPO: Anti-Battistelli letters

Another wave of letters condemning the controversial president of the European Patent Office, Benoit Battistelli, has been sent ahead of a meeting of the organization’s Administrative Council this week in Munich.

The council is due to discuss posting a vacancy notice for the presidency, with Battistelli’s term due to end in July 2018 – a step that would lead to the controversial Frenchman being turned into a lame-duck president as soon as this July.

Among the letters are:

• One from an unofficial group of EPO staff (EPO Flier) called on the Administrative Council – for a fourth time – to take action against Battistelli.
• One from the Federation of International Civil Servants Associations (FISCA) to Mr Battistelli lodging a “formal complaint against what has evidently become systematic mistreatment of staff representatives.”
• One from the staff association of CERN to the EPO’s staff union, SUEPO, offering its support in its “battle to maintain the possibility to perform your union duties in accordance with the prevailing conditions in all international organisations.”
• One from the staff representative of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to German Chancellor Angela Merkel outlining Battistelli’s behavior and asking her to pressure the German representative to EPO to stop supporting the president.
• Another from EPO Flier to the Dutch government – which is reviewing the EPO’s behavior – outlining its concerns and suggesting questions that should be asked.