On Thursday 28 February, the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Directive introducing protection for whistleblowers at EU level, Virginie Rozière (S&D, France), criticized the particularly restrictive position of a group of Member States on this issue, namely France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria.
The MEP regrets the attachment of these countries to the European Commission’s initial position, which proposes reporting wrongdoing in three stages, first within the whistleblower's organisation, then externally to a competent authority, and finally to the media and the public.
The European Parliament opposes such a hierarchy between an 'internal' and an 'external' alert.
“It must be said that the attitude of France, which has taken the lead in a group of a few Member States which are blocking the negotiations, could lead to a deadlock”, said Ms. Rozière, a few days before an interinstitutional negotiation session on Monday 4 March, which could prove to be conclusive. And the rapporteur criticizes the “hypocrisy” of these Member States.
Earlier in the week, the parliamentarian had already expressed her frustration on the occasion of the opening of an exhibition on the victims of the Mediator (see EUROPE 12202).
The French point of view. In a memorandum from the French Secretariat General for European Affairs from July 2018, prior to the vote in the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee on the draft directive (see EUROPE 12141), France already said it was "against the removal of provisions linking the use of internal and external reporting channels".
For the French authorities, who refer to the 'Sapin II' law on transparency and the fight against corruption and the modernisation of economic life, “the consequences of this confusion of channels would be excessive and contrary to the objective of the proposed Directive, which is to define a balanced status for the whistleblower”. And, in her view, there is a need for a “fair” process for both employer and employee.
Mobilization of whistleblowers. Five whistleblowers - Antoine Deltour, Ana Garrido Ramos, Andrea Franzoso, Brigitte Heinisch, and Raphaël Halet - addressed the EU legislature in an open letter published on Wednesday 27 February.
They explain that they could only issue their alert by turning to “outside of the organisations where (they) worked”. If the European Parliament agrees with the Council of the European Union’s position, "future whistleblowers in Europe will suffer as much - if not more - than we did”, they add.
To read the letter: https://bit.ly/2UbNZZl. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)