Bonum Certa Men Certa

Battistelli's Self-Serving 'European Inventor of the Year' Charade a Classic Example of Waste and Abuse

Sepp Blatterstelli



Summary: Astronomical amounts of money are being given to private companies and even broadcasters (i.e. buying the media) to create a silly festival for Team Battistelli (mirroring what FIFA habitually does)

UNDER Battistelli, who is worse than Blatter of FIFA in many ways, huge secret contracts are given to private companies, including rather dodgy contracts. We have already explained why this is wrong. Battistelli is wasting EPO budget to help distract from his never-ending abuses and now he prepares a political event dressed up as "science" with high risk and paid-for coverage.



"For information," told us one reader, some numbers are available to highlight the huge degree of Battistelli's lavish spendings/waste. "Estimated costs," this reader told us "of "European Inventor of the Year" (2015)" (which was probably cheaper than this year's) were as follows:

For the costs of "European Inventor of the Year" in 2015 the estimates range from 3 to 7 million Euros.

It is documented that 1.5 million Euros went to CNN which is one of six "media partners" paid for covering the event. Figures for the payments to the other "media partners" are not available.

Another 800.000 Euros went to VOK DAMS Events.

When other costs such as catering, travel and accommodation for all invitees and working time for EPO staff are factored in, the total is at least 3 million Euros and it has been estimated it could be as much as 7 million Euros.


This unaccountable (after so-called 'reforms') President is nuts and evidence we have (albeit not sufficiently well verified) suggests he is lying about his salary. Is he also lying about the so-called 'bicycle affair'. He had an extremely dodgy guy deliver the message. Were bicycles of Battistelli damaged at some EPO parking lot? A better question to ask is, do such bicycles exist in the first place? We would not be shocked if Battistelli (whom someone told us wants his own limousine) only found out that the EPO had gave him a bicycle upon the nonsense used to justifysix bodyguards that cost a fortune at almost the same time as the budget meeting. Does anyone know anything about a limousine and a private lift? We keep hearing rumours about these, but it's hard to substantiate. Either way, here is a new comment about the 'bicycle affair' (as some people now call it):

All this leaves me with a question: Is there anybody who would know BB's bicycle from all the other bicycles present in the bicycle parking lot? Or does it carry a plate saying: I am BB's bicycle? Another question: Does he own the bicycle or is it EPO owned and is BB merely allowed to use it? If there really is really a bicycle at all..... One just wonders......


Here is a new ode about it:



F reshly pumped up and ready to pedal I deas of reform,threatening to meddle V ery high increases that could brake the bank E xtremely tyresome,is this some kind of prank?

F or these proposals he must Raleigh the troops O ne spokesperson referred to too many holes in the loops L et's not get saddled with another fee hike D on't vote for it! Get on yer bike!


Even caricatures are now circulating or being circulated, demonstrating just how much EPO staff loathes the crazed boss (0% approval rate).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rudeness and Vulgarity Won't Stop Journalism About Free Software
we seem to be on the right path
IBM Plans for Layoffs Becoming Clearer With "Employee Reviews"
Of course this impacts Red Hat as well
If You Don't Want "Linux" to Become "Windows", Then Follow GNU
GAFAM isn't a friend of Linux; it's only a user in the same sense clients are "users" of a brothel
This is What the Slop Bubble Popping Can Look Like
Maybe not an overnight collapse, but getting there gradually
 
openai.com Traffic Said to Have Fallen 50% in the Past Three Months, Reports Say It Nearly Ran Out of Money to Borrow
After the slop frenzy all we'll have left is environmental destruction
Red Hat Vice President Leaving After Nearly Two Decades
IBM's culture of secrecy is not compatible with Free software
Links 20/01/2026: "ChatGPT Health" (Latest Distraction From Being Insolvent) Flops and Raises Concerns, "The U.S. Military Faces a Reckoning on Greenland"
Links for the day
Readers Pleased With Layout Changes
Two days ago we began improving clarity and accessibility in the site
IBM is Outsourcing Red Hat's Fedora to Slop to 'Save Money'
If IBM cared about quality rather than alleged "cost savings" (cutting corners), it would assign more IBM staff to Fedora, but instead the exact opposite happened, with the likes of Cotton and Miller removed from the project
European Patent Office (EPO) Industrial Actions Formally Start in Two Hours
As per the latest (revised) action plan, today workers will slow down their work and limit patent grants
Microsoft Under Fresh Investigation by the Italian Competition Authority
In 2025 we kept a running tally of 30,000+ Microsoft layoffs, so 40k this year would not be unthinkable
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part VI - More Strikes Planned at the EPO, Starting This Month
Yesterday we said that friends of Berenguer or inside Berenguer's circle may have left
Gemini Links 20/01/2026: New Tea, Using a Roku at a Hotel, and "Voltage-Based Power Management for Any Raspberry Pi"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 19, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, January 19, 2026
Links 19/01/2026: National Broadcasters on World or Local Affairs Up to a Week Ago
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/01/2026: Game Boy and "The Lounge" (IRC) for the Elderly
Links for the day
Slopfarms in Google News (at Least Three Today) With Fake 'Articles' About "Linux"
Google itself is trying to promote its own slop ("Overview") at the expense of original and credible sources
Links 19/01/2026: ChatGPT’s Defects and The Guardian on Why So-called "AI Companies Will Fail"
Links for the day
IBM Quiet About Its Plan for Red Hat Amid Accelerated Bluewashing
Something is going on at Red Hat
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part V - It Seems Like Some People Are Already Leaving "The Mafia"
they have a rough idea of what's coming
Microsoft Means War, Microsoft is on the Side of ICE
Microsoft, people-ready
More Confirmatory Rumours Regarding "Massive" Red Hat Layoffs
Ecosystem and sales said to be targeted
Proprietary UNIX is What We'll Have If IBM Red Hat Gets Its Way
IBM Red Hat wants to control everything, even if that means killing everybody
Free Software in Times of Peace (and Times of War, Too)
GAFAM and IBM are war companies
Founder of GNU/Linux (RMS) Speaks in US University (College) This Week
The auditorium has very high capacity and this is his "college comeback" talk in the United States
Office Meetings Are Most Useful to the Least Productive Workers
In my "office life" days I really didn't like meetings
LinuxSecurity and Linuxiac Are Still Slopfarms, Even Anthony Pell Does It
We suppose waiting another month or another year won't change a thing
Claim That the Board of Directors at IBM Isn't Happy With How the Company is Run
IBM tries to project an image of strength to the whole world, especially to its clients
Links 18/01/2026: Legal Trouble for xAI, Climate Concerns, Data Breaches and More
Links for the day
'Vibe Coding', Chatbots, and Other Bots (e.g. "Agents" Disguised as "Superintelligence") Aren't Saving You Time
False marketing, FOMO marketing tactics
Gemini Links 19/01/2026: Analog Cameras and Plucker in 2026, US Losing Acceptability in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 18, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, January 18, 2026
Links 18/01/2026: The "Deepfake Porn Site Formerly Known as Twitter" and Turkey to Block Kids' Access to Social Control Media
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/01/2026: Against English as Language of the Net, "Symposium of Destruction"
Links for the day
You Would Expect This Kind of Misleading Narrative Shortly Before Microsoft (or GAFAM) Mass Layoffs
misleading PR
FOSDEM 2026: democracy panel, GNOME & Sonny Piers modern slavery experiment
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Pump-and-Dump With IBM Shares, Courtesy of People Who Stand to Gain From the 'Pump'
"3 Reasons to Buy IBM Stock Right Now"
IBM: Spying on Staff Like Never Before and Implementing Silent Layoffs This Month, Say Insiders
what we heard from whistleblowers seems to corroborate
'Cancel Culture' Doesn't Work (in the Long Run)
Despite all the attacks, I'm enjoying life, I'm keeping productive, and our audience continues to grow
IBM is Not a Free Software Company (It Never Was)
Red Hat's main product, RHEL, is full of secret sauce and has 'secret recipes' (it is basically proprietary)
IBM Turning Up the 'RTO' (Stress) and 'PIP' (Fear) Heat on Workers, Rebellion May be Brewing
Sometimes it feels like today's executives at IBM view IBM workers as a liability
Links 18/01/2026: Indonesia Against Comedy, Media-Hostile (Censors Comedians) Convicted Felon in White House Defecting to Opponents of NATO
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Still up (statCounter Says to 6%) in Bosnia And Herzegovina
Let's see where it is at year's end
Making Layout Changes
Feedback can be sent to us
Behind an Economy of Fake 'Worths' and Fictional 'Valuations' or 'Market Caps'
They normalise white-collar crime and say "everyone is doing it!"
Links 18/01/2026: "South Africa is Running Out of Software Developers", Companies Spooked to Find Slop is a Major Liability
Links for the day
Eventually the Joke (and Financial Fraud) is on Microsoft, Stigmatised for Slop
Is Microsoft trying to commit suicide?
GNU/Linux Leaps to All-time Highs in Virgin Islands
it seems to have started around the "end of 10"
Place Your Bets: Who Will Die First? Microsoft or IBM?
Not even joking; make a guess
Making and Keeping the Sites Accessible
Sometimes less does mean "more" (or "MOAR")
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part IV - How Europe's Largest Patent Office Recruited Drug Addicts, Antisemites, and People Who Absolutely Cannot Do the Job (But Know the 'Right' People)
To better overlap industrial actions we might delay/postpone/pause this series for a bit
Restoring Professional Pride in the Tech Sector
Rejecting slop isn't being a Luddite
Benefiting by Adding Presence in Geminispace
As the Web gets worse, not limited to bloat as a factor, people seek alternatives
Google News Recently Started Syndicating Another Slopfarm, Linuxiac
Even if Google is aware that there is slop there, it's hard to believe that Google will mind
Slop Bubble "Is Worse Than The Dot Com Bubble"
Edward Zitron Says It like it is
Software Patents and USMCA (or NAFTA)
We recently pondered going back to issuing 2-3 articles per day about patents and common issues with them
IBM Sued Over PIPs
PIPs are "performance improvement plans"
Sites With "Linux" in Their Name That Are in Effect Slopfarms and Issue Fake Articles
We try to name some of the prolific culprits
Gemini Links 18/01/2026: Raising Notifications From Terminal and Environmental Sanity
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 17, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 17, 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day