MEP Virginie Rozière (S&D, France) told EUROPE on Tuesday 28 November of her concerns following the comments of Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová reported by Belgian daily Le Soir on the same day.
According to Le Soir, the Commissioner believes that European-level protection for whistleblowers against criminal prosecution would be “dangerous” “without safeguards against fraudulent accusations”. In her opinion, “anonymity” needs to be ensured in four cases: corruption, money laundering, fraud and tax evasion. She acknowledged, however, that she was not sure of being able to tackle aggressive tax optimisation, such as Luxleaks, or of being able to offer horizontal protection – in reference to the debate surrounding the legal basis, a matter resolved by the Parliament’s legal department (see EUROPE 11628).
Comments which concern Parliament. Rozière, rapporteur on an own initiative report on horizontal protection for whistleblowers, said she was “concerned at the (commissioner’s) ambition in the light of her comments”. In her opinion, a sectoral approach is not the right one and protection for whistleblowers “cannot be confined only to illegal acts”, pointing out that tax scandals demonstrate that “multinationals take advantage of grey areas in the legislation to justify practices that damage the general interest”. “Those who bring such situations to light must be protected, including where there are legal proceedings, without necessarily infringing the rights of the other parties”, she argued.
The MEP finds the signals coming from the European Commission worrying. She has already spoken out about the delay incurred by the legislative proposal announced by Commissioner Jourová (see EUROPE 11873).
The European Parliament adopted a text calling on the Commission to bring forward an ambitious horizontal legislative proposal before the end of the year (see EUROPE 11886). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)