(14 February) EPSU welcomes today’s adoption by the European Parliament of a resolution which demands that the European Commission immediately puts forward effective and comprehensive Europe-wide whistle-blower protection.
Speaking and voting in Strasbourg today MEPs deplored the Commission’s failure, to so far, deliver , legislative proposals to establish a minimum level of protection for whistle-blowers who protect the EU budget against fraud.
Nadja Salson, EPSU’s policy officer stated: ‘I would like to echo the concerns of MEPs. It is high time for legislation on EU-wide across the board whistleblower protection. Whistleblower protection is in most cases a workers’ right issue. ’
MEPs also advocate setting up an independent EU body, with offices in EU Member States, to help internal and external whistle-blowers to use “the right channels to disclose their information on possible irregularities” affecting the EU’s financial interests. ‘We may have good rules to protect whistle-blowers within the EU institutions, but at national level investigative journalists or concerned citizens still face the risk of ending up in court. Just think of the ‘Luxleaks’ whistleblowers, whose only aim was to expose tax evasion by multinational companies”, said rapporteur Dennis de Jong (GUE/NGL, NL) .
‘My report contains many proposals to harmonize the protection of whistle-blowers where alleged fraud and corruption involving EU funds are at stake, such as better procedures within the EU institutions themselves or one-stop-shops manned by experts who know how to deal with information from whistleblowers and who can guarantee personal data protection’, he concluded.
EP Report on the role of whistle-blowers in the protection of EU’s financial interests
- Log in to post comments
