No MEP in the newly formed European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) objected on Wednesday 24 July to the corrected version (corrigendum) of the interinstitutional agreement of the directive on the protection of whistleblowers.
This paves the way for the text to be presented to the next plenary session of the European Parliament on 16 September. If, on this occasion, no MEP or political group objects within 24 hours of the text being announced, the corrected version will be deemed to have been approved by the European Parliament, in accordance with Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (Article 241 on corrigenda). All that remains for the EU Council to do is to adopt the agreement so that the text can be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
As a reminder, the interinstitutional agreement between Parliament and the EU Council (trilogue) having taken place late during the previous Parliament's term of office, MEPs had adopted a version that had not been reviewed by jurist-linguists (see EUROPE 12215/15). Hence the need to resubmit the text, this time cleaned up, to the newly elected MEPs.
In particular, the agreement provides for a two-step reporting mechanism: first, through an internal channel within the organisation or through an external channel to a competent authority, and then to the public and the media. In addition, the text provides for a series of exemptions, in particular for secrets involving State security and defence and documents classified or linked to medical confidentiality (see EUROPE 12212/11). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)