10.10.19
Gemini version available ♊︎The EPO is Gradually Being Outsourced to Private, For-Profit, Unaccountable and Notorious Companies
From Wednesday, 17th of October, 2018
Summary: The EPO is becoming a private enterprise one piece at a time; what’s not to like?
EARLIER this year we wrote about EPO President António Campinos planning to give about $50,000,000 to a 'Nazi company' (for so-called 'security'; oppression in disguise actually) without as much as consultation, negotiation or input from workers and their representatives. This was particularly interesting because of Battistelli‘s accusations that EPO staff representatives were like “Nazis” (even judges were called that); if Team Battistelli hires people from a company whose very roots are Nazi Germany (literally created under the Third Reich), won’t Battistelli’s words seem like pure projection?
“Then came Serco Germany, known best for an almost/near-monopoly on ‘detention camps’ or “Secure Immigration Detention” as they like to call it (akin to concentration camps, which were turned into a profitable private venture).”But wait; it gets worse.
Then came Serco Germany, known best for an almost/near-monopoly on ‘detention camps’ or “Secure Immigration Detention” as they like to call it (akin to concentration camps, which were turned into a profitable private venture). What on Earth is Campinos stepping into? Is this what the Mercer (Trump ally) ‘study’ telling him to do?
The EPO is gradually, under a blanket of secrecy, adopting extreme neoliberal tactics that render a “public” monopoly a private one; the EPO’s monopoly is being turned into somebody’s business — a for-profit enterprise without accountability (like mercenaries). Some consequences were seen recently following overt censorship and yesterday Telecompaper reported more outsourcing by the EPO. Yes, it continues! What we have here is a private, for-profit enterprise and monopoly that’s above the law! Campinos did the same thing at EUIPO — outsourcing the “IT” to India in defiance of EU rules/policy. He even got away with it, maybe owing to diplomatic immunity. He soon (months later!) became the President of the EPO. Now comes this contract for OTE:
Specialised engineers from the OTE Group, operating the Business Control Center, will provide monitoring, maintenance and 1st level IT support on-site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the entire EPO network and IT infrastructure in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Austria.
OTE Group specialises in providing integrated ICT services, having undertaken projects in both the private and public sectors, in Greece and internationally.
This time, unlike the aforementioned EUIPO scandal, the contract seems to have gone to Athens (EU) and not to India. █
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