Previously in this series: Part I | Part II

Benoît Battistelli still in charge from the shadows?

Summary: Why does Campinos continue to protect Bergot?

We now turn to the most recent developments in the controversy triggered by the sudden and mysterious "disappearance" of the EPO's "Compensations and Benefits" expert Le Guern.

The row which had flared up between management and staff representatives as a result of the SUEPO communiqué of 4 February reached a new peak of intensity on 16 February when EPO President Campinos took the extraordinary step of using the EPO intranet to publicise the matter.

Together with his message addressed to all EPO staff and cryptically entitled "Supporting our colleagues" Campinos decided to publish details of the exchanges which had taken place between his office and EPO staff representatives, including SUEPO and the elected EPO central staff committee.

"The row which had flared up between management and staff representatives as a result of the SUEPO communiqué of 4 February reached a new peak of intensity on 16 February when EPO President Campinos took the extraordinary step of using the EPO intranet to publicise the matter."According to Campinos the SUEPO communiqué of 4 February "was - and remains - extremely problematic".

More specifically he accused SUEPO of questioning "the professionalism and ethics of colleagues" and of making "categorically untrue" and potentially "libellous" claims to the effect that "the management is responsible for one of the colleague's current situation".

Campinos went on to deplore the fact that despite "a respectful request", SUEPO had made "no attempt to retract their communication, or to apologise to any of those concerned".

"In the next part of this EPOLeaks report we will review the timeline of events which led to the current breakdown of "social dialogue" at the EPO."His message concluded with the following statement:

"Regrettably, we therefore no longer have any guarantee that SUEPO will give our colleagues even the most basic level of respect required for a progressive face-to-face dialogue. As a result, I have requested that social dialogue with SUEPO will continue only by written exchange for the next three months, starting from today. At that point we will revaluate the decision."

In the next part of this EPOLeaks report we will review the timeline of events which led to the current breakdown of "social dialogue" at the EPO. ⬆