On 4 November Mr Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office, dismissed Laurent Prunier, elected member of the Central Staff Committee and Secretary of SUEPO The Hague, against the will of the Administrative Council as expressed in its March 2016 Resolution. In 2016, Mr Battistelli dismissed three elected Staff representatives and SUEPO officials and downgraded another one, a first in the world of International Organisations. Other investigations/disciplinary proceedings concerning SUEPO officials are ongoing.
On 24 November we will demonstrate our solidarity to Laurent and other dismissed / downgraded / targeted Staff Reps and SUEPO officials. We will gather at the "Plein 1813" at 12:00 and march to the "Lange Vijverberg", in front of the Office of the Dutch Prime Minister.
This document provides a non-exhaustive list of some articles, blog posts or videos published in October 2016 (sorted in reverse chronological order, not necessarily by relevance). Latest additions are highlighted in yellow:
On 11 October Mr Battistelli will hold his much publicised (yet another “first in the history of the Office”) Social Conference where he will be trumpeting his achievements just before the meeting of the Administrative Council on 12/13 October. Meanwhile, the attacks against SUEPO officials are continuing in The Hague with three investigations/disciplinary proceedings. SUEPO organises a demonstration on Tuesday 11 October in Munich in front of the EPO Isar building starting at 12.30h, and on Thursday 13 October in The Hague.
This document provides a non-exhaustive list of some articles, blog posts or videos published in July 2016 (sorted in reverse chronological order, not necessarily by relevance). Latest additions are highlighted in yellow. You may also want to access the list of articles for July 2016:
The London-based lawyers, Bretton Woods Law, specialise in the Rule of Law, International Human Rights law and International Administrative Law.
At the request of SUEPO, Bretton Woods Law produced a legal opinion concerning the actions of the President of the EPO, and the responsibility of the Administrative Council as well as the Member States of the EPO with respect to staff.
In an Annex to the above document a number of the reforms are considered in the light of basic legal and democratic standards in Europe.
This document provides a non-exhaustive list of some articles, blog posts or videos published in July 2016 (sorted in reverse chronological order, not necessarily by relevance). Latest additions are highlighted in yellow. You may also want to access the list of articles for June 2016 or August 2016.
The USF issued a Communiqué on 20 July 2016 in which they reproduce an open letter (EN, FR) sent to Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission about the Barroso case.
This document provides a non-exhaustive list of some articles, blog posts or videos published in June 2016 (sorted in reverse chronological order, not necessarily by relevance). Latest additions are highlighted in yellow. You may also want to access the list of articles for May 2016 or July 2016.
Dear SUEPO members, dear colleagues,
Battistelli is not only staring into the abyss. He has taken a big step forward.
After more than a decade of heavy involvement in SUEPO and staff representation, Laurent Prunier (current Secretary of SUEPO TH), has been suspended in the evening of 27/06/2016, pending dismissal. We refer to the article of NRC published on 29 June: “Vakbond wil opheffing immuniteit Battistelli”.
As if Laurent were a terrorist, the Office has imposed a house arrest and has forbidden him to enter the EPO premises “to protect the victim and witnesses as well as the integrity of the procedure”. What a farce - the grotesqueness would be funny if Laurent were not sick after having been tormented for months.
Laurent cannot share with us the details of the accusations, but he says the investigation procedure is demonstrably malicious, and the accusations fabricated.
Also the timing of the suspension is suspect: less than two days before the Administrative Council meeting, and a few days after SUEPO has filed an injunction (kort geding) to complain about the intolerable union harassment SUEPO officials have been facing for too long. We can already hear VP1 proclaiming “purely coincidental” ...
Enough is enough. We have instructed our lawyer to work towards the lifting of Battistelli’s immunity and of course we will keep you posted.
Please keep supporting us, and Laurent (su16011hp).
Yours,
SUEPO Central