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EPO as Magnet of Corruption
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Part XXXXII of the ongoing series was released last night at around midnight, as usual. With a projection of about 50 parts in total we're already looking at a series as long as a 200-page book and it tells the story of unprecedented corruption in European patent offices; it concerns Europe's largest ever-patent office, the EPO.
"Are we being governed by criminals?"The EPO has had issues for a long time, culminating in the occasional strike or protest. But during the Benoît Battistelli years the level of criminality soared in the management tiers; António Campinos is more of the same, mostly plundering staff and even pensioners. Set aside the effect/impact on ordinary Europeans and scientists all across the world.
The video above goes through the latest part and instead of reading through it I try to interject some of my personal thoughts or my personal interpretation of this dire situation. When Europe's second-largest institution acts in bad faith and intentionally breaks laws it's already bad. That Europe's largest institution (EU/EC/EP) lets that happen and even covers up the abuses is even worse. Are we being governed by criminals?
"I feel that many of us," said an EPO insider quite recently, "not just employees of the EPO, need truth and transparency. I am very optimistic at one thing: the public will be aware of the scandals in the EPO, many of my colleagues have retired with a "big file" containing confidential documents, a kind of insurance against bullying from the Office. At the end, truth will emerge." ⬆