Bonum Certa Men Certa

Nobody to Talk to About EPO Abuses, Including Abuses Against the Media and Against the EPO's Own Staff

MEPs Roberta Metsola (Maltese) and Agnes Jongerius (Dutch)
MEPs Roberta Metsola (Maltese) and Agnes Jongerius (Dutch) love talking about press freedom, but they're just talking



Summary: The supposed 'democracy' we have in Europe isn't functioning; we've been seeing that in the UPC (corrupted media, toothless public officials who work against the public) and we're seeing that in the EPO as well; they've basically put on a pedestal unaccountable systems that shamelessly abuse laws and constitutions

"For the first social dialogue virtual meeting with SUEPO after 11 months," SUEPO Central wrote today, "President Campinos cherry-picks the agenda topics, imposes the number of attendees and refuses the attendance of SUEPO’s legal advisor. As a result, meetings with SUEPO are further delayed."



"If none of this produces any results, we'll escalate further."This may not be surprising in light of insulting attitude towards courts. Campinos treats court rulings no better than Benoît Battistelli, as he thinks they're merely gentle recommendations. As a result, earlier today SUEPO sent the following letter to most EPO staff, who are SUEPO members:

30-09-2021 su21027cp – 0.2.1

SUEPO meeting with President Campinos could not take place

Dear SUEPO members,

The President invited SUEPO to a video conference on 30 September 2021 at 14.00h to discuss only the “Strike regulations” and a “Memorandum of Understanding”. He excluded from the agenda provided by SUEPO over three weeks ago important topics of concern to staff such as the New Career System.

In view of the legal complexity of these topics, the Central Bureau of SUEPO decided to be accompanied by its legal advisor and informed the President accordingly. However, in his reply, the President refused the attendance of our legal advisor.

SUEPO asked the President by letter1 to reconsider his position as it is standard practice that, similarly to the employer, workers’ unions can also be accompanied in such meetings by legal advisors who are experts in their field and by nature bound by confidentiality. Unfortunately, the President maintained his refusal.

The settlement of disputes remains also of high importance for staff. SUEPO is of course willing to continue social dialogue at the same eye level and has invited2 the President to another meeting on 28 October 2021. By then, SUEPO hopes the President will have created the conditions for the meeting to take place.

Your SUEPO Central Bureau

_____ 1 “Our planned meeting on 30 September 2021”, Letter to Mr Campinos of 29 September 2021 (su21025cl) 2 “Invitation to a meeting on 28 October 2021”, Letter to Mr Campinos of 30 September 2021 (su21026cl)


He has no way to rationalise what he did; so Campinos is just running away, evading interactions and mumbling about "gaps" that are fictional.

SUEPO must be feeling the cold shoulder, as did we after we had contacted a number of MEPs. It took a lot of time (not just E-mail but also telephone). We specifically focused on press-related issues and SLAPP (not European software patents or other subjects that merit a challenge). One might be inclined to think that Europe will take such things seriously, not offer mere platitudes and empty promises. But it is mostly the latter.

At the moment, for the record, only one office still communicates on the matter (and barely even that anymore). So it generally seems fair to say that the European Commission and Parliament are intentionally failing to respond to reports of EPO SLAPP. I've decided to give them until next week (or week's end) before concluding they don't want to challenge their employer's own abuses. Why next week? They're made some allusions to holidays (maybe an excuse) and are back to stonewalling. There's generally a coalition against SLAPP in Europe (the-case.eu) and, to quote a lawyer who helped a little (pro bono), "[i]t seems several MEPs presented a report regarding SLAPPs in the European Parliament in order to propose a legislative proposal establishing minimum standards against SLAPP practices in the EU."

"You can find an article here," she told me, citing a piece entitled "EU Parliament to counter lawsuits designed to silence journalists, NGOs". ("The European Parliament’s committees dealing with legal affairs (JURI), civil liberties and home affairs (LIBE)...")

One of the MEPs is Roberta Metsola (Maltese), whom I contacted on roberta.metsola@europarl.europa.eu

She never bothered to even reply!

I then contacted also Agnes Jongerius (Dutch) on agnes.jongerius@europarl.europa.eu

"I think you already know this MEP as I remember I read it in one of your articles," the lawyer said. But no reply, either.

So for the time being, amid German election, we're only in touch with one MEP who is part of Merkel's floundering coalition.

If none of this produces any results, we'll escalate further. "There is an Expert Group against SLAPP in the European Commission. (Expert Group against SLAPP- E03746)," I was advised. "You can approach some of the Members in the different countries to see if they can help you further. Here is the list of Members. You can Google the names and organisations to contact them..."

Maybe that will be the next step, but not before the current endeavours are concluded (we've not given up). We've intentionally not named the German MEP and party; the MEP claims to care dearly about freedom of the press, but talk is cheap; action takes actual effort.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
 
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Links 22/04/2025: Ending DEI Policies at Adobe, FTC Sues Uber
Links for the day
RMS is Done at KCL, Next Stop is Oxford
The message of RMS has long resonated well in India
US Government Already Bailing Out OpenAI/Microsoft With "Contracts", As Usual, Back Doors You Cannot Remove Becoming 'a Step Closer' on New PCs (Unless Everyone Acts ASAP)
The next "logical" step towards digital prisons
Microsoft Devises PR Stunts to Distract From Impending Mass Layoffs and Likely Bad Results Preceding Those Mass Layoffs
A "voluntary exit plan"
Gemini Links 22/04/2025: Deaths, HamsterCMS, and More
Links for the day
Links 22/04/2025: FTC v. Meta Trial and Google Remedies
Links for the day
In Turkey, Windows Down Rapidly While GNU/Linux Grows
Although Turkey is in NATO (but not the EU), it cannot quite trust computer systems controlled by the United States
GNOME, Microsoft, and GitHub: The Lack of Reporting on Abusive Colleagues Contributed to Profound Media Vacuum (or Blackout), Now Resorting to SLAPPs
This lack of morality/courage has helped enable further abuse, lining up more victims
Richard Stallman Has Updated His Article on Why "Free Software Is Even More Important Now"
Richard Stallman is about to give a talk here in the UK in a few hours
Microsoft Already Attacks the BSDs as Well (the E.E.E. Way, as Usual)
Bearers of bad news
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is in Trouble, May Soon be Out of Business
Openwashing needs to end
Microsoft's Debt Grew Over 6 Billion Dollars in the Last Reporting Quarter (Before Inauguration), Expect Worse Next Week When 'Results' Are Disclosed and Mass Layoffs Resume
Microsoft is bleeding. It does not want people to notice.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, April 21, 2025
Richard Stallman Gives Public Talk in London in 7 Hours (Need to Register as Venue Limited to 150 Seats), Public Announcements Begin to Appear
These are not announced weeks or months in advance