Bonum Certa Men Certa

Confirmed by Dutch Media (Telegraaf): Benoît Battistelli Makes Unreasonable Compensation Demands

Telegraaf article



Summary: Based on an article published late on Friday, Battistelli is hoping to get a presidential salary for several decades to come even once he's out the Office, which makes imperative all sorts of hard questions

LITTLE by little many of the "rumours" we heard and learned about turn out to be facts. One such "rumour" was snowballing into what we later called "reinforced rumour" because the lawyer of SUEPO said it to Dutch media and now it's actually in headlines of Dutch media, and not even with a question mark.



Battistelli must be living in a dream; based on his salary (which we think we now know, and it's a lot less than publicly assumed), he wishes to receive a presidential salary until he's about a hundred years old (if the compensation was to be split into annual 'chunks', along the lines of Brimelow's pay grade). He should be the one compensating the EPO for the damage he did to it after more than four decades of reputation-building efforts (the damage may be valued at billions of euros).

Human-corrected (by Petra Kramer) machine translation of this new article ("Franse despoot wil 18 miljoen bij vertrek", published 18:36 CET on Friday) can be found below, with a few bits highlighted in yellow:

French despot wants 18 million on departure



by Marieke van Essen

THE HAGUE - The controversial French president of the European Patent Office (EPO), Benoît Battistelli, "demands 18 million, or ten years' salary on his departure." According to sources within the international organization, which has an office in Rijswijk among other places.

Battistelli is already under fire for some time because of his reign of terror that according to the union. He deteriorated working conditions and suggested severe reprisals against trade unionists who criticize his policies. In Rijswijk two representatives are at home on sick leave after being submitted to alleged "intimidating integrity investigations". The last three years regrettably there were five suicides at the EPO.

Meanwhile, not only the staff are complaining, but for the first time the Member States (38 countries) turned against the Frenchman who took office in 2010. This is evident from a letter from Jesper Kongstad, the Danish president of the Administrative Council, a sort of supervisory board in which the 38 participating countries are represented.

Kongstad, whose letter is in possession of the Telegraaf, requests Battistelli to investigate any disciplinary measures against members of the union by an external committee. "Unfortunately we can not carry any meaningful conversation with the president," writes Kongstad.

EPO staff who are in contact with the outside world through secret email addresses and telephone numbers, managed to tell that the days of Battistelli are numbered. "The chance that he will have to leave is huge. Twenty countries are against," says one. "He's already been called the man of eighteen million," says the other. "It is a true dictatorship. We have already several deputy bosses who come from the French secret service or the military. It is really starting to be ridiculous. These types get paid more than 15 grand a month and do everything the big boss orders them to do."

On March 16 delegates from the 38 participating countries officially vote on the proposals from Kongstad. Battistelli now lobbies with Member States to get them to abandon the independent investigation. According to the president, the EPO is "healthier than ever."


This serves to prove a lot of what we wrote before, but the part about Battistelli's salary we very much doubt as it would serve to suggest that his salary was hiked to almost 2 million euros (per annum). Battistelli's salary will be the subject of a future post because it requires some further verification. Another possibility is that the number (18 million) is not correct and that it's actually 10 years' salary, based on extrapolation of a much lower figure (salary). We have been getting contradictory reports about the exact number, but it seems possible that 10 years' salary is what Battistelli insists on. Either way, this is where Battistelli's unacceptable secrecy about his salary (his predecessor disclosed hers) actually harms him even more.

"We have been getting contradictory reports about the exact number, but it seems possible that 10 years' salary is what Battistelli insists on."As someone told us a while back, "Alison Brimelow was massively into transparency. Seems odd that Battistelli could have demanded a much higher salary than her, unless he really, really promoted the "reforms" as some massive task of work that would totally change the office. For the better, I mean."

For comparative purposes, as one person put it, "Martin Schulz (President of the European Parliament) gets 200K plus expenses, President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, gets 112.5% of the top civil service grade, which is around 300K." Does Battistelli receive 6 (six!) times what the latter gets (President of the European Commission)? We doubt it. If it's true, then that in itself is a massive scandal to come. Consider that people who control his salary are also more or less in his 'circle', which might lead to allegations of corruption (the Bygmalion Affair notwithstanding).

If Battistelli stays (until 2018, which is extremely improbable), he'll be paid for 2-3 years' work; why should he be paid for 10 (or more) upon resignation, caused to a large degree by his own folly? It beggars belief.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
 
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025