The Member of Parliament Agnes Jongerius (S&D) posed the following question (translations are available in French and German) to the European Parliament:

Today (Thursday, 7 April), staff at the European Patent Office (EPO) went on strike in order once again to draw attention to their difficult working conditions. The Court of Justice of the EU had previously called for these conditions to be improved, but nothing was done in response to that pronouncement. Conditions at the EPO have reached a nadir, but the EPO is not alone in this respect. At other EU institutions and agencies too, including the ECB and the Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna, infringements of the Staff Regulations of Officials have occurred in recent years.

1. Does the Commission agree with staff at the EPO that the industrial relations climate at the EPO is unacceptable and needs to be substantially improved?

2. The Commission is an observer on the EPO's Administrative Council. In that role, is it insisting that industrial relations at the EPO be improved?

3. How does the Commission try to remedy failures of compliance at other EU institutions and agencies which ought to abide by the Staff Regulations of Officials?

Previously, on 2 February 2016, another Member of Parliament, Marc Tarabella (S&D) posed the following question (original question in French):

Written Questions E-009256/2015 and E-010497/2015 drew the Commission's attention to the appalling situation at the European Patent Office (EPO).

Following the implementation of the 2010 plan to increase productivity, a ban on trade union activity, repeated privacy violations, harassment and unachievable productivity targets which make a mockery of European workers' rights have put the EPO's 7 000 staff in a very difficult position. Since 2012, four of them have committed suicide.

The Commission has a representative with observer status on the EPO's Administrative Council who rarely intervenes, despite the governance problems.

What is the exact role of the Commission representative?

Does he/she report back to the Commission on the management problems?