A second roundtable meeting took place on 28 May 2015 with the Chairman of the Administrative Council, Jesper Kongstad, EPO President Benoît Battistelli, representatives of SUEPO and FFPE to resume discussion on the formal recognition of trade unions within the EPO legal framework.
These debates were supported by a progress report which presented the outcomes of two working group meetings previously held on 11 and 20 May. The report highlighted a list of points of agreement and disagreement and suggested a possible way forward with a precise timeframe.
It was decided that the working group composed of representatives of the Office and the trade unions will continue to work in the coming months in order to agree on a Memorandum of Understanding, which will specify the modalities under which the trade unions will play their role in the EPO social dialogue.
Fully conscious of the difficulties ahead, the AC Chairman and the EPO President consider that the process, which was launched only few weeks ago, has already delivered a good basis for progress on this important issue.
