European Parliament rapporteur on the own initiative text that seeks to give protection to whistleblowers, Virginie Rozière (S&D, France), appeared somewhat impatient, when contacted by EUROPE on Friday 29 September, at the European Commission’s willingness to postpone the presentation of an initiative on the issue until next year.
Justice Commissioner Vĕra Jourová told Belgian daily Le Soir, in an interview that appeared on Friday that the Commission was going to wait until next year to bring forward an initiative offering across the board protection to whistleblowers, when presentation had been scheduled for the end of this year.
The announcement appeared to annoy the MEP somewhat. “I accept that the issue is a complex one and that the Commission wants to deliver a solid response. But these issues are not new and time is of the essence. I hope that this latest delay will be the last”, she told EUROPE.
She welcomed some of the positions set out by the commissioner in the interview, however, notably allowing whistleblowers to go directly to the media. “That’s good news when the Right wing in Parliament is trying to block this idea”, she commented. As our newsletter reported, the Christian Democrats and the Conservatives want an order put in place, with reporting of concerns to be first through internal mechanisms, then external mechanisms and lastly the media (see EUROPE 11870).
On the other hand, Jourová did not appear to support the proposal for a new “institution”, a reference certainly to the rapporteur’s proposal of setting up a European-level body, attached to the European ombudsman, to gather reports of concerns. This positioning by the Commission worries Rozière’s office, where it is felt that such a body is needed to coordinate action in the member starts and, where there is a doubt as to respect for the rule of law in a member state, to ensure that a European body can guarantee respect for the right to sound the alarm.
In the European Parliament, negotiations are progressing and the legal affairs (JURI) committee vote is scheduled to take place at an extraordinary meeting on 2 October. The plenary vote is likely to be during the second session in October. The delay by the Commission on its draft initiative should not have any impact on the set Parliamentary timetable. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)