A reader sent us some important information about Roland Grossenbacher, whom we wrote about before. He has had a conflict with Battistelli [1, 2], which is why there is a cartoon about him circulating within and outside the EPO. Grossenbacher, unlike Battistelli, is a man of some honour, a guy with intellect and scientific background (with a Ph.D. on copyright, based on Wikipedia). Battistelli is just a right-wing politician with some certificate from the sociopaths factory known as ENA (never mind decorative nonsense like an honorary doctorate he seems to have gotten through personal connections, as we mentioned last year and even more recently). Does this remind anyone else of Trump and Wharton? Autocratic tendencies aside?
There is an open conflict between 'King Battistelli' and Roland Grossenbacher (CH) but it is not clear when it all started.
Possibly it has to do with the case of the suspended Boards-of-Appeals member (Grossenbacher is the chairman of the Boards-of-Appeals Committee (BOAC)). I also heard that there is still a court case pending in Karlsruhe about a possible lack of independence of the Boards.
Known is the following:
During the Council meeting of October 2016, Grossenbacher proposed changes to Battistelli's proposal concerning revised Investigation Guidelines along the following lines:
1) all changes should be in the Service Regulations (hence decided by the Council)
2) the right to remain silent should be anchored in the Service Regulations
3) there should be an exhaustive list of what can be considered as misconduct
4) only deliberate and grossly negligent breaches should be punished
5) the head of the Investigation Unit should be nominated and under the supervision of the AC (Administrative Council)
6) the Disciplinary Committee should be informed when the Investigation Unit finds evidence of malpractice
7) the AC must be informed, if investigations are launched against Staff/Union Representatives
8) the Head of the Investigation Unit should be independent and report directly to the AC
9) mediation and ombudsmen should be an option
10) the independence of the Internal Appeal Committee should be reinforced by a constitution of external independent judges
11) the elected Staff Representation must have a say in the nomination of the Appeals Committee
During the 2016 December Council meeting, Grossenbacher criticised the approach taken by Battistelli after the ILOAT judgement: there is “a great risk, that we will see ourselves in a short while in the same situation as today”. He also complained that Battistelli had not successfully dealt with any of the points of the March resolution.
"Battistelli looks like some kind of an ENA 'liquidator', and perhaps rightly so."Days ago the EPO mentioned (in Twitter) the EPO's controversial French Chief Economist Yann Ménière going public (in an event) and spouting out his usual nonsense, but remember that the former Chief Economist of the EPO is anything but happy with Battistelli-like policies. It seems like there is a conflict brewing between the "old" (good) EPO and the "new" EPO, i.e. the one that is in rapid demise as inventories run out (expected to lead to massive layoffs shortly after Battistelli leaves). No wonder the unions are concerned and staff is generally mortified. Battistelli looks like some kind of an ENA 'liquidator', and perhaps rightly so. Unlike Trump's businesses, Chapter 11 and bailouts are not a option for the EPO. ⬆
