The Romanian Presidency of the EU Council reportedly achieved flexibility at EU level on internal reporting under the Directive on the protection of whistleblowers, in an exchange with ambassadors at the Committee of Permanent Representatives II (Coreper) on Wednesday 6 March.
This green light from the Member States is a breath of fresh air in the negotiations over the Directive, which are persistently stalling on the subject of the graduation of the reporting; this is because the EU Council wants a strict hierarchy between internal and external reporting, whereas the European Parliament desires flexibility (see EUROPE 12207).
The Presidency would therefore orally propose a solution that would achieve a relaxing of the reporting hierarchy between the internal and external channels, in return for which the potential whistleblower would be "strongly" encouraged to turn to internal channels within their organisation. However, if the conditions were not in place for this to happen, they could go directly to a competent external authority. The proposal seems to have been supported by a majority of Member States.
No blocking minorities have emerged, according to several diplomatic sources. The potential for one as denounced by the rapporteur, Virginie Rozière (S&D, France) a few days ago, which included France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy, has not, therefore, reformed again. And for good reason: Italy, the Netherlands and Germany have shown flexibility during their speeches.
Germany's change of attitude could be explained by the relatively untenable position of the German Minister of Justice, Katarina Barley (SPD), who has reportedly been not only subjected to pressure from the media, but also political pressure, since a tough German position would undermine a highly political issue for which the rapporteur is a Social Democrat MEP. The president of the S&D group in the European Parliament, Udo Bullmann of Germany, has reportedly intervened himself over previous days to prevent this from happening.
An unnatural alliance. France, for its part, is said to have maintained its position opposing any relaxation of the reporting process, as have Austria and Hungary. According to two sources, France is currently seeking to form a new blocking minority with the latter two Member States in respect of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) held on Friday 8 March, where the Romanian Presidency intends to report on progress made in negotiations over the directive.
This is a manoeuvre born out of pragmatism, according to these sources, which could have a potentially disastrous political impact. Just a few days ago, French President Emmanuel Macron sent a letter to Europeans to revitalise the European project against "nationalist withdrawal" (see EUROPE 12207), a withdrawal embodied in Hungary, among other things, by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, explained our two sources. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)