This is our first detailed monthly round-up of updates provided by the
EU Whistleblowing Monitor team of country editors detailing national developments in the transposition of the EU Directive on Whistleblowing during July 2020.
As of today, there are just 16 months and 17 days until the deadline for transposition.
Transposition of the Directive is now updated to ‘in progress’ in Estonia and Slovenia pushing the total number to 11 – with 16 Member States remaining listed as ‘not started.’
In
Estonia, the Minister of Justice has made a
public statement confirming preparations to develop a whistleblowing protection Bill to transpose the Directive.
In
Ireland, Transparency International Ireland has shared their views with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on Submission on the transposition of EU Whistleblowing Directive. TI Irelands’
submission responds to ten questions posed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on considerations for transposing the EU Whistleblowing Directive, and includes a number of additional recommendations to address existing shortcomings in the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 advocated for in previous submissions.
In
Slovenia, the Minister of Justice and State Secretary met with representatives of Transparency International. In a
public report of the meeting, which took place on the 3
rd of July, the ministry reiterated that transposition of the Directive was a priority and that a draft law is being intensively prepared by key members of the government and institutions. Whilst a draft law is therefore expected soon, there have been concerns that recent delays in passing amendments to address key loopholes in the national anti-corruption framework are evidence of a lack of political will for both these much-needed reforms and effective implementation of whistleblowing protection.
In
Spain, a coalition of more than 15 civil society organisations have
published an open letter requesting a more participatory legislative process for transposition following the establishment of a working group which did not include input from civil society experts or of whistleblowers. Various draft proposals to transpose the Directive have already been presented in Spain with
Congress recently blocking a draft initiative from a political party declaring the proposal ‘insufficient’ to protect whistleblowers, a move considered positive by experts who considered the proposal to be weak.