Summary: It's getting hard for the EPO under Battistelli to even hide its French bias, especially with deals/arrangements like the above-mentioned one (EPO has one branch in Austria and two in Germany)
I did not envision myself spending several years (even 4 years after leaving that company) challenging the system for tolerating and even covering up corruption
If only more platforms did the same, plenty of energy would be spared, "old" machines would be totally suitable (even with 20 tabs open), as we'd focus on substance, not bells and whistles