The name of the rapporteur on the directive on the protection of whistleblowers at the legal affairs committee (JURI), which is likely to be the committee responsible for the report, will be made known on Tuesday 15 May at the committee coordinators' meeting.
According to the information we have received, the MEP who put forward the own initiative for the horizontal protection of whistleblowers (see EUROPE 11890), Virginie Rozière (S&D, France), would be in a good position to take charge of the report. The EPP was effectively planning on using these points to take over the report on the draft directive on European company law (see EUROPE 12006).
One of the shadow rapporteurs, Francis Zammit Dimech MEP (EPP, Malta) is said to have been approached in this regard. If this is confirmed, it is possible that he will have an ambitious position on this dossier, particularly in light of the assassination in October 2017 of the Maltese investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia (see EUROPE 11885). It is also possible that Mr Zammit Dimech will have a number of differences with certain EPP delegations, particularly those in eastern Europe, which are less in favour of a robust text.
The allocation decision decided between the different committees is expected to be reached during the plenary session in Strasbourg at the end of May. The committee in charge of economic and monetary affairs (ECON) and the civil liberties committee (LIBE) could possibly disagree with the JURI taking charge of the legislative text. The internal market and consumer protection committee (IMCO) is not expected to want to take charge of the report, however, due to a legislative calendar that is already excessively busy.
Controversial points
Several points are expected to be subject to heated debates in Parliament, beginning with the staged flagging up procedure mechanism, which initially calls for internal flagging up, followed by the competent external authorities being informed and finally, if needs be, the media and public. The legal basis is also expected to be tackled, particularly with regard to introducing article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) involving health and safety at work, which is currently not included in the proposal.
The annexes listing the European legislative acts covered by the directive are also expected to be the subject of hard fought debates. The question of removing them is envisaged by some MEPs, particularly those in the Greens/EFA group. Similarly, MEPs will also examine the modalities for providing support to whistleblowers. The project for setting up a European authority responsible for receiving messages sent in this regard and providing support for the whistleblowers (see EUROPE 11817) could also resurface.
The text is also expected to be subject to tough talks at the Council. France, Sweden and Ireland are not very enthusiastic about the idea of having a European directive that would amend their own national legislation that has recently been updated. The legislative work at the Council is really expected to begin under the Austrian Presidency of the European Union, according to the information we have received. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)