Nothing but the truth

A whistleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, dishonest, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. Whistle-blowing is not a new phenomenon but it is in fact thousands of years old.

Whistle-blowers are either seen as heroes or as traitors. The decision to disclose sensitive information is ethical and can have wide-ranging consequences for the whistle-blower, from internal mobbing, losing employment to criminal conviction and possibly imprisonment. On the other hand, whistle-blowers are often the only source of information for journalists to inform the public about political, health, environmental or other public scandals. If the laws at EU level are scattered or whistle blowing is even discouraged it would hinder investigative journalism, freedom of expression and the right of information of the society.

The seminar, initiated by Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE/FR), aims at setting off a debate on the necessity and the conditions of the protection of whistle-blowers at EU level, both in the framework of the current inter-institutional negotiations on the trade secrets directive in the Legal Affairs committee as well as under civil liberties aspects. The invited speakers will outline the state-of-play as regards the different legal situations, including from the employment perspective, share their experience as a whistle blower as well as a journalist and present an outlook to possible future action at EU level.