In a communiqué (en,fr,de) published by the European Federation of Public Service Unions, Agnes Jongerius asks, "Does Europe apply double standards?".
In a communiqué (en,fr,de) published by the European Federation of Public Service Unions, Agnes Jongerius asks, "Does Europe apply double standards?".
On Wednesday 25 March 2015 a demonstration will take place in Munich in front of the EPO Isar building (Bob-van-Benthem-Platz 1) starting at 12.30h.
The demonstration aims in particular at the German delegation in the Administrative Council. As the representatives of a host country and of one of the founding Member States, the German delagation has a special responsibility towards EPO staff.
Staff of the EPO reproach the German delegation that it has thus far uncritically supported all previous reforms that in various ways infringed staff’s fundamental rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, inviolability of the home and other.
In his view, the judgment of the Dutch Court of Appeal "would merit, at the very least, with regard both to its expectations and its consequences, a debate between the Member States within the Administrative Council" but Mr Battistelli has already "announced to the staff that theorganisation would not be submitting to the ruling by the Court". "When one has lost immunity from jurisdiction, it is futile to invoke despairingly immunity from enforcement."
Pierre-Yves Le Borgn' also makes a series of proposals to emerge from the cricis. These include an independent social audit, a conference of the ministers every two years (none took place since 2000), and that the exercise of the Chairing of the Administrative Council becomes incompatible with candidature for the Presidency of the EPO.
Translations in English, German and Dutch are available by scrolling through the document.
In his view, Benoît Battistelli "has once again distinguished himself by rejecting a court decision from a democratic State, on the pretext that this would be contrary to the principle of immunity which the EPO enjoys"."It is now a matter of urgency for the management to realise that the EPO cannot be an area where law does not prevail, and that it must respectinternational working standards and the European Charter on fundamental rights."
In this spirit, Philip Cordery has called upon Guy Ryder, Director General of the ILO(Letter to Guy Ryder (en,de))and the European Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska(Letter to European Commissioner (en,de)), to intervene.
The Council of the European Union has adopted on 12 May 2014, Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has proposed a number of measures to increase the accountability of international organisations.These include holding States responsible for the actions of international organisations that they assist, contribute to, or of which they are members.
The Assembly invites all Council of Europe member States, and international organisations of which they are a part to formulate clear guidelines regarding the waiv er of immunity by international organisations or otherwise limiting the breadth of the immunity theyenjoy before national courts, in order to ensure that the necessary functional immunity does not shield them from scrutiny regarding, in particular, their adherence to non-derogable human rights standards.
The Report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights from Mr José María BENEYTO is available here.