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

The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
 
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster
It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day
Links 24/07/2025: Convicted Felon Quits UNESCO, "Vibe Coding Goes Wrong", and Signalgate Gets Worse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled