Merpel pays a brief visit to Eponia

Merpel has been rather busy of late, but does not wish her dear readers to think that she is completely oblivious to the events that have been taking place in Eponia.  Taking her lead from the IPKat's multi-topic post, here is a miscellany with a brief round-up of the current issues.

Demonstrations continue
Three members of the EPO Staff Committees have been suspended, as Merpel reported here.  In support of their suspended colleagues, further demonstrations have been taking place (Merpel reported the initial one here) - and now she hears that the further protest in the Hague on 1 December numbered around 600 EPO employees, while that in Munich on 4 December attracted over 2000.  It is clear that the unrest within the EPO at various things, including the treatment of these officials, is widespread - these numbers are pretty much without precedent.

Service Regulations published

Merpel examines what has been going on in Eponia

Back in 30 September 2015, the EPO announced that it was publishing online its staff regulations and related rules (follow the link from the announcement at this link to the full document at your peril - it is a whopping pdf of over 2MB). This was stated to put "the EPO on a par with other leading international organisations in terms of the transparency of its internal regulatory framework."  It has however come to Merpel's attention that some parts are missing, and are not therefore publicly available from the EPO, namely:

Circular No. 347 Circular on Strikes
Circular No. 355 Regulations for the Staff Committee elections
Circular No. 356 Resources and facilities to be granted to the Staff Committee
Circular No. 364 Implementation of the career system. Minimum qualifications for recruitment, grading on recruitment, promotion and other rewards
Circular No. 365 General Guidelines on the EPO Competency Framework
Circular No. 366 General Guidelines on Performance Management
Circular No. 367 Absences for Health Reasons

Merpel hopes that this oversight can be rectified.

Questions raised by Member of French National Assembly
Monsieur Pierre-Yves Le Borgn' (National Assembly Deputy for French Citizens Abroad) has described how he intervened on 18th November 2015, when he sent a letter (English translation here) to the French Minister of Economy and Industry, Monsieur Emmanuel Macron, describing the "deterioration in social relations at the EPO". Two days later he received a reply to his letter from the EPO President (English translation here). M. Le Borgn' subsequently published the response from SUEPO in relation to M. Batistelli's comments (here and translation here), and a letter which he received from a group of "examinateurs exaspérés".

There seems to Merpel to be an unsustainable escalation in conflict at the EPO.  This affects both the general employees, and also the Boards of Appeal, as Merpel reported here.  There seems to be a somewhat raised level of political interest in member states now, but how long must Merpel keep writing that something must be done?  Meowing as loud as she can, Merpel says - this cannot continue, and calls upon the Administrative Council to act.