Source: xnet-x.net
The first proposal presented to the Spanish legislature for the transposition of the EU Directive on whistleblowing is the result of the collaboration of civil society with its representatives in Congress. The Bill proposed by Xnet was registered in the Spanish Congress with the support of 16 deputies.
“The proposal for legislation has been registered with the initial support of sixteen deputies of the Courts (according to the Xnet’s method), belonging to political groups Compromís, ERC, Más País, BNG.
It is an initiative of Xnet, which has been also responsible for writing the text, as a member and in coordination with the Whistleblowing International Network and the Government Accountability Project in the US, and has the support of Blueprint for Free Speech and Eva Joly, magistrate and former MEP leader fighting against corruption and for the protection of whistleblowers, Plataforma por la Honestidad, and whistleblowers like Luis Gonzalo Segura, the former lieutenant of the Spanish Army and whistleblowers, amongst others.
The registration of the Bill comes few days after the Directive enters into force in Europe and three weeks after the publication of two reports prepared by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), in which Spain was urged to achieve concrete results regarding the fight against corruption and regretting that a comprehensive and effective framework for the protection of whistleblowers is yet to be introduced in Spain. The EU Directive on whistleblowing, which was approved with a broad consensus of all groups in the European Parliament (EP) last April (591 votes in favour, 29 against, 33 abstentions), has been published on the 26th November 2020.
As was the case in the European Parliament, this proposal aims to obtain the widest possible consensus in the Spanish Congress. If approved, it would make Spain the first country in the EU to transpose the Directive, a development which would be particularly welcomed in a country where whistleblowers lack any protection and which suffers a high degree of corruption.”
The proposed law can be read on in the Xnet website here.