Following the Dieselgate, Luxleaks, Panama Papers or the ongoing Cambridge Analytica revelations the European Commission has today announced it will propose a new law to strengthen whistleblower protection across the EU. The new law is willing to establish safe channels for reporting both within an organisation and to public authorities. It should also protect whistleblowers against dismissal, demotion and other forms of retaliation and require national authorities to inform citizens and provide training for public authorities on how to deal with whistleblowers.
Under the proposed Directive, a whistleblower is granted protection when reporting on breaches of EU rules in the areas of: public procurement, financial services, anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing, product safety, transport safety, environmental protection, nuclear safety, public health, food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, consumer protection, protection of privacy and personal data, and security of network and information systems. It also applies to breaches relating to Union competition rules, breaches harming the EU’s financial interests and, in view of their negative impact on the proper functioning of the internal market, to breaches of corporate tax rules or arrangements whose purpose is to obtain a tax advantage that defeats the object or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law.
According to Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality «the new whistleblowers’ protection rules will be a game changer. In the globalised world where the temptation to maximise profit sometimes at the expense of the law is real we need to support people who are ready to take the risk to uncover serious violations of EU law».
After a long campaign for the protection of whistleblowers in the EU, the Greens/EFA group has welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s proposals, as it has been consistently pushing for a directive and published its own draft proposal in May 2016, which was updated earlier this month following a public consultation
On behalf of the group, transparency spokesperson Benedek Jávor declared welcoming «the fact that both the public and private sectors will fall under the umbrella of whistleblower protection and the wide scope of the directive». Greens/EFA MEP Julia Reda nevertheless added: «There is still work to be done. It is disappointing not to see workers’ rights included in the Commission’s plans. This is too important an area to remain unprotected».
Sharing this analysis, S&D Group MEP and author of the Parliament’s report on protection of whistle-blowers, Virginie Rozière, said: «Big issue remains that breaches of employment law are not part of the scope. The Group will also fight hard for strong protections for investigative journalists. As we have seen from the latest Facebook scandal to the Panama Papers, investigative journalists work hand-in-hand with whistle-blowers to expose corruption and it is vital that they are also protected. As we have tragically seen in both Malta and Slovakia in recent months, far too often they pay a heavy price for their investigative work».