European Parliament overwhelmingly backs rules to protect whistle-blowers in wake of corporate scandals
- Parliament backs rules to boost the fight against fraud, corruption, corporate tax avoidance and damage to people’s health and the environment
The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted for rules aimed at protecting whistle-blowers from reprisals in the wake of corporate scandals such as Dieselgate and Cambridge Analytica.
With 591 votes in favour, 29 against and 33 abstentions, the parliament backed rules to boost the fight against fraud, corruption, corporate tax avoidance and damage to people’s health and the environment.
Recent corporate scandals “have helped to shine a light on the great precariousness that whistle-blowers suffer today”, said Virginie Roziere, the French socialist who steered the legislation through the assembly.
The vote in parliament sends “a strong signal that it has heard the concerns of its citizens, and pushed for robust rules guaranteeing their safety and that of those persons who choose to speak out,” she said.
The EU parliamentary vote came days after Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing site, was arrested and carried out of Ecuador’s embassy in London. He faces possible extradition to the United States on computer crime charges.
