On 23 October 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted EU Directive 2019/1937 (see the text here) as it was considered that, “…potential whistleblowers are often discouraged from reporting their concerns or suspicions for fear of retaliation. In this context, the importance of providing balanced and effective whistleblower protection is increasingly acknowledged at both Union and international level…Whistleblower protection currently provided in the Union is fragmented across Member States and uneven across policy areas.” This Directive sets minimum common standards to ensure the effective protection of whistleblowers in specific areas, noting that Member States may decide to extend the application to other areas in order to ensure a comprehensive and coherent whistleblower framework at a national level.
Article 26 of the Directive provides that “Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 17 December 2021.” Despite the expiration of this deadline, Greece has not yet transposed this directive (5-1-2021) (for details of the transposition of this directive by other EU member states, see here and here).
Failure to transpose the content of the directive into Greek law constitutes a breach of EU law and could lead to sanctions against the country (see 1, 2, and Articles 258, and 260 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).
Despite announcements by the government (see pp. 105-106 of the National Reform Plan), not only has no corresponding legislation been passed by the end of 2021 but a relevant bill does not even seem to have reached the consultation stage. This is despite the fact that the relevant drafting committee was set up in 2020 (see decision on its establishment and amendment). The failure to establish an effective framework for the protection of persons who report illegal acts and, in particular, breaches of EU law, may ultimately affect the extent to which such illegal acts are detected and punished, with consequences for the effectiveness of the fight against corruption.
The failure to transpose the directive and to provide in the Greek legal order an effective framework for the protection of persons who blow the whistle on corruption, raises further concerns if one considers the present context of the fight against corruption in Greece in which this takes place. For example, a dispute had recently arisen over the anonymity of protected witnesses in the Novartis case regarding their testimony in related criminal proceedings, (see 1, 2, 3) while in November 2021 the opposition party had denounced an attempt by the government to ” bench” witnesses of public interest (see a 1, 2).
It is the responsibility of the Member States of the European Union to transpose the provisions of the directives which have been adopted at Union level into national law.
In this case, however, Greece violated its obligation as at the date of the expiration of the deadline it had not incorporated the content of EU Directive 2019/1937, concerning the protection of whistleblowers, into national law.
At the same time, the failure to provide an adequate and effective framework for the protection of persons providing information which assists in the fight against corruption also leads to concerns as to whether the Greek Government is taking substantial measures to ensure the principles of transparency and accountability and tackling corruption effectively.
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