The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Eurocadres trade union and Transparency International EU (TI-EU) have all welcomed the provisional political agreement on the Whistleblowers Directive that was concluded on Monday 11 March between the European Parliament and the EU Council.
TI-EU called it an “historic agreement”, and “the beginning of a cultural change” for trade unions: the press releases were unfailing in their praise for agreement, with the main source of satisfaction being the option to choose reporting a wrongdoing (a violation of the law or an abuse of the law) either within the organisation via internal channels, or by approaching a competent authority.
This was an EU Council concession won by Parliament in a hard-fought battle, who in turn conceded on various points, in particular by abandoning the idea of introducing Article 153 TFEU to cover working conditions (see EUROPE 12212/11).
The downside. Only the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) seemed bitter about the outcome, regretting that the directive did not allow a potential whistleblower to approach the press directly as a result of maintaining two-stage reporting (internal or external, and then to the media).
Insofar as the trade unions are concerned, their worry is now about how well Member States transpose the directive, in particular whether trade unions are included in the internal reporting process. In addition, the trade unions have clearly expressed their disappointment at how Article 153 has been abandoned. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)