Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO 'Sweetener' for Administrative Council National Delegates

Dentist



Summary: A lot of money is spent keeping the national delegates, who have the power to challenge the EPO, smiling

YESTERDAY we published (and later updated with readers' input) contact details for delegates, in order to make complaints about the EPO even simpler. We still urge citizens of member states to contact their delegates and put some burden of guilt on them, in order for them to at least consider doing something about the EPO's abuses.



We have discovered something rather interesting and especially ironic given the way that the EPO games sickness figures.

By now, we have been urged repeatedly to write about this, as several people independently drew our attention to something new.

"We still urge citizens of member states to contact their delegates and put some burden of guilt on them, in order for them to at least consider doing something about the EPO's abuses.""Don't know if you were already aware of that," one said, "but someone finally pointed to the passage in the minutes of the Administrative Council of EPO in which - suddenly and magically - the delegates last year were given FREE dental treatment!

"And I can assure you that when in Munich you say "send the bill to the European Patent Office", the dentist will ALWAYS find something ..."

"So, a complete reworking of the smile in a top German practice (3000-10.000 EUR, if not more) how would it be not considered a bribe in any other European country? Not in the magical word of EPONIA! Where the President can count on the unwavering and smiling support of countries untouched by the progress of modern dentistry: Macedonia! Albania! Croatia! Bulgaria! San Marino!"

“So, a complete reworking of the smile in a top German practice (3000-10.000 EUR, if not more) how would it be not considered a bribe in any other European country?”
      --Anonymous
"Have a look at the comments at the IPKat," said one person with a pointer to this comment and further comments. Points 45 and 46 of the minutes are especially revealing. We wish to invite readers to send us the full document (meeting minutes) in order for us to show the original material relating to this free ‘gift’, unconventionality if not unconditionally given to Battistelli's overseers. It's not some negligible gift; dental care can be expensive, especially for people at the age group in which one would expect delegates to be. This becomes especially valuable for delegates from poorer countries. I have not even had a tooth filling myself (and I barely ever go to a dentist), but for some of these older people the proportional value of this gift is very high as they can take advantage of it without any limits.

"The medical insurance thing was reported in the official minutes of the Administrative Council CA/79/14," one person wrote. "How come the delegates were able to survive for the last 40 years without this little "sweetener"?"

Here is the text in question:

12.1 Any other business

45. The Vice-President DG 4 informed on newly introduced medical insurance for delegates. Urgent medical treatment and dental treatment would be covered for delegates, deputies or experts when attending meetings of the Coucil [sic] and its sub-bodies or any event upon invitation by the Office. The insurance would cover all costs not taken over by the delegates' insurance.

46. The Council noted this information on new medial insurance for delegates.


Can someone please send us the original document?

Another commenter noted: "I see that, as regards "dental" treatment for AC delegates coming to Meetings in Munich, reimbursement is not limited to "urgent" treatment, and is intended anyway to cover treatments for which the normal travel insurance for medical costs declines to pay out. I can speak from personal experience here in Munich. The city has a lot of top quality dental practices, accustomed to accommodating the wishes of visitors who jet in from other countries, many from the Gulf States, Russia etc. I now have a magnificent set of teeth, of which I am very proud. The cost was horrendous, even with full medical insurance, but my magnificent new smile makes it all worthwhile.

"So what is not completely apt, with the choice of word "sweetener"?"

Well, perhaps this shall be known now as the "sweetener" scandal, which isn't a big scandal but nonetheless something to keep track of. We would like to publish the original.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
 
Links 07/02/2025: Amazon’s Stock Collapses and US Government Being Dismantled (Still)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Links 05/02/2025: Kessler Syndrome and News Online
Links for the day
statCounter: Monaco Now 7% GNU/Linux ("Proper")
GNU/Linux, not counting Chromebooks, is on the rise
Many Parts of Google Lose Money
It's quite apparent that many parts of Google - even some that rely on ad revenue or push ads - aren't profiting
European Internet Forum (EIF) is Dominated by American Corporations and Microsoft Lobbyists, Staff Take the Lead
Should the officials over here or the European Parliament pay attention to these people?
Links 05/02/2025: Connection without Connectivity and Unionised Grocery Workers
Links for the day
Just Because People on Top of the Microsoft Pyramid Made a Lot of Money Doesn't Mean Microsoft is Wealthy
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Gemini Links 05/02/2025: Learning, Madman Ruling a Mad Country, Back in Geminispace
Links for the day
statCounter Shows "WIntel" Chasing a Dying Market
Microsoft acts as if it's running out of money
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Still Raising Money, Richard Stallman Contributes
total exceeding $430k
A Lot of Stuff About "Linux" in Google News is LLM Slop, Fake 'Articles'
It seems to be getting worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 04, 2025