A few hours before a new interinstitutional meeting on the Whistleblowers’ Directive, the European Parliament's rapporteur, Virginie Rozière (S&D, France), strongly criticised the EU Council's position on two highly political issues on Tuesday 26 February: the legal basis and the prioritisation of the reporting.
Discussions between the EU co-legislators are intense (see EUROPE 12199, 12195). On the legal basis, the European Parliament wants to add Article 153 of the TFEU to cover working conditions while the Council reduces the legal basis proposed by the European Commission.
"Everyone puts forward legal arguments. (...) This is a political issue. The legal arguments just serve as a screen on this issue", the MP said on the occasion of the opening of an exhibition by Marc Dantan on the victims of the Mediator, in the presence of Irène Frachon, who was at the origin of the scandal's revelation.
On the prioritisation of the alert, Parliament favours a two-step approach: - first, an initial alert either internally (within the organisation) or to competent authorities, and then - to the media and the public.
Member States reportedly support a three-step approach, in line with the European Commission's position. This position is criticised by Ms Rozière. "Forcing the potential whistleblower to report within his company, how is that compatible with the purpose of protecting him against reprisals?” she asked.
For the rapporteur, making legal legitimacy conditional on issuing the alert first within the company ultimately negates the whistleblower protection. Such a situation constitutes, according to her, "total hypocrisy".
The honourable Member pointed out the Member States, which is divided into three groups. First of all, the group of countries "which have an extremely strong position for the moment - including, it must be said, France, which wants the exact trace of the ‘Sapin’ law in the European directive", she explained. Germany is in this camp.
The United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Belgium are supposedly close to the position defended by the European Parliament, while Sweden is the most ambitious state on the subject, as it has had constitutional protection for whistleblowers for two centuries.
Call from 70 organisations. Recently, nearly 70 organisations, including Transparency International, sent an open letter asking EU co-legislators to remove the three-step reporting hierarchy.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/2SvIinv (Pascal Hansens)