HOME also organised Eastern Partnership panels on asset disclosure and healthcare
corruption, back to back with the experience sharing workshops, allowing Member State
experts to participate in both events.
In response to calls for more "objective" data in future EU Anti-Corruption Reports,
HOME published criminal justice statistics for corruption offences from 2011 to 2013 –
the first such collection at EU level. HOME has now asked Member States to provide
data for 2014. The statistics are comparable across time but not across countries because
of diverging definitions and indicators.
Eurostat welcomed this pilot initiative as a good
basis for developing a permanent collection.
HOME also published the results of a 2015 Eurobarometer of businesses’ attitudes
towards corruption in the EU, with questions on experience and perception; a citizen
survey is envisaged in 2016.
DG JUST will publish the EU Justice Scoreboard with 2014 data on efficiency, quality
and independence of national judicial systems in the EU.
.
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The
Rule of Law Mechanism is being invoked for the first time in the case of Poland,
with the involvement of the
.
Whistleblowing has been prominent on the agenda, especially of the European
Parliament, where HOME took part in two conferences in June 2015 and will attend an
event in March where the Greens/EFA group will present a whistleblower protection
directive they have drafted.
Whistleblowing helps to detect and prevent corruption but is a broader subject
encompassing the remit of multiple DGs. Existing and proposed EU legislation contains
whistleblower protection provisions in areas such as trade secrets, audit, market abuse,
and collective investment in transferable securities. However, Member States are likely
to resist a potential EU whistleblowing directive, on grounds of subsidiarity or
competence. Coordination is necessary across the relevant DGs.
On the basis of international best practice,
DG HR is reviewing the effectiveness of the
Commission's own whistleblowing guidelines, which need to be better communicated to
staff. A publicity campaign is envisaged in spring. As noted by the European
Ombudsman's own-initiative, the Commission is one of only two EU institutions to
implement whistleblower guidelines, as required.
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Document Outline