Whistleblower protection in Europe

The need to protect whistleblowers is increasingly recognised at both international and national level, and the EU institutions are pushing forward on the issue:

• The European Commission has recently launched a public consultation on the issue of whistleblower protection and is undertaking an impact assessment to ascertain to what extent the EU might be able to legislate on the matter.

• The European Parliament recently adopted a report by the Budgetary Control Committee on the protection of whistleblowers and the Legal Affairs Committee is about to draft a report of its own. 

• The Financial Affairs Council of the European Union has called for EU action on the matter, and the Justice and Home Affairs Council has whistleblower protection on its agenda for 27 and 28 March.

In this context, MEPs Pascal Durand, Benedek Jávor and Julia Reda are organising a high-level roundtable to gather together MEPs, Commission officials and representatives from various different sectors: Trade unions, NGOs, journalists' organisations, media publishers and business representatives. The event is invitation-only but those interested to participate in the discussions can write to pamela.bartlettquintanilla@ep.europa.eu.

In advance of the discussions, we have put together a draft position paper which is open to feedback - just write to us if you have any comments!

• Download the draft position paper

AGENDA OF THE ROUNDTABLE
 

15:00 – 15:10

Welcome and Introduction

15:10 – 15:30

Current state of play, upcoming plans and timelines: Presentation by Antoine Colombani, Cabinet of First Vice President Frans Timmermans and by Isabelle Perignon, Cabinet of Commissioner for Justice, Consumers & Gender Equality Ms. Vera Jourová

15:30 – 16:30

Roundtable 1: What is the added value of EU action on whistleblower protection? Is it sufficient to leave this issue to the Member States?

16:30 – 17:00

Coffee Break

17:00 – 18:20

Roundtable 2: What are the pros and cons of sectoral versus horizontal legislation, and how can the widest yet legally sound protection be achieved?

18:20 – 18:30

Wrap up and Goodbye

For more information about our work on whistleblower protection see:

• Greens/EFA draft EU directive on protection for whistleblowers
• Public consultation on Greens/EFA draft directive
• Greens/EFA Principles for whistleblower protection