Malta's Democratic Party Pushes EU to Adopt Uniform Whistleblower Laws TNH Staff
As Malta faces ongoing criticism after the murder of a journalist who was probing high-level corruption, the country’s Democratic Party (PD) said the European Union should accelerate bloc-wide laws protecting those who report wrongdoing.
Party officials said they’d written to a bevy of top EU officials and Malta’s Members of the European Parliament pushing for a Maltese law – that’s still in the process of being drafted – which would allow an individual to petition the superior courts of any member state to obtain whistleblower protection, to be made valid throughout the EU.
“PD’s call for a uniform and standard European Union-wide whistleblower protection mechanism will ensure that the true principles of a Whistleblower Act are upheld, and when any person is awarded whistleblower status, that status shall be respected and enforced by all member states,” the party said, the Times of Malta reported.
It’s been four months since the European Commission unveiled its proposals. Which include clear mechanisms and obligations for employers, reporting channels both within and outside organizations, and a three-tiered reporting system.
The burden of proof would be reversed when a whistleblower claims retaliation, with employers being forced to disprove it.
The directive must be approved by MEPs and then passed by the 28 states at the European Council level before it will come into effect. Only 10 have whistleblower laws, including Malta, but the PD said it isn’t strong enough.
The government had sought the extradition from Greece of Maria Efimova – a whistleblower who helped the murdered journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia – and wanted her tried for false accusations and theft after she exposed wrongdoing at Pilatus Bank. Greece’s highest court blocked her return.
The PD cited the case of Jonathan Ferris, a former official at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) denied whistleblower status who claimed he had evidence of corruption reaching the top levels of government.
“Such a system does not seem to work when the whistle blower has evidence against the current executive or high government officials,” PD said.
Friends, family and supporters of Galizia gathered Aug. 26, on what would have been her 54th birthday, coming together at a monument turned into a makeshift memorial for her, hanging banner,s including one that read: “Daphne was assassinated for exposing the truth.”
She was murdered in October last year, when a bomb planted in her car was detonated while she was driving. Three people have been arrested and charged with her murder, though the masterminds behind the crime remain at large.
Photo by Ethan Doyle White