Status of whistleblowers
Dear European Ombudsman,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
The number of cases that have been reviewed by the Ombudsman to date, relating to a whistleblower from an EU institution. Please indicate in each case the institution involved, the type of complaint involved (eg fraud against the Communities, staff abuse, failure to comply with competition rules for contracts ) and whether official whistleblower status was approved or denied.
My address is
313, Norman Shaw North,
House of Commons
Westminster SW1A 0AA
Yours faithfully,
Lee Rotherham
Dear Sir,
We have received your request for access to documents. We will deal with
it as rapidly as possible and reply to you no later than 15 working days
from the date of reception.
Kind regards,
Peter Bonnor
Head of Process Management & Inquiries
Unit 5
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D00286.F2575FB0 European Ombudsman
Unit 5 FOI team
1 avenue du Président Robert Schuman
CS 30403
F - 67001 Strasbourg Cedex
[2]www.ombudsman.europa.eu
References
Visible links
2. European Ombudsman Home Page
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/
Dear Mr Rotherham,
Thank you for your request of 10 May 2016, and for your interest in the
work of our Office.
Our handling of your request has taken a little more time than intended.
This is because our Office does not systematically record or categorise
complaints using the term 'whistle blowing'. The background to this is the
Office's nature as a complaint handling body. Correspondence that is
intended to report on possible instances of mismanagement or illegalities,
and which calls for action by the Ombudsman, is normally registered as a
complaint. The author of the complaint is recorded to be a complainant,
and hence to date, the formal recognition or denial of a whistle blower
status has not yet taken place. The related categorisations in our
database take place through 'key words', which are primarily aimed at
recording information on the substance of the alleged wrongdoings.
For the above reasons, we are not in a position to provide you with a
clear-cut overview of the kind that you request. However, there are two
sources of information and documents that I believe you could find useful
for your research. The first is a small collection of whistle blowing
related cases that a colleague of mine collected for a digest some years
ago. The following links lead to the decisions on those cases:
[1]http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
[2]http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
[3]http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
[4]http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
[5]http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
The second source of information and documents on whistle blower related
cases are replies to previous requests for public access to documents,
published online on [6]www.asktheeu.org. Seeing that you are familiar
with that platform, I hope you will find it appropriate for us to simply
provide you with the corresponding links:
[7]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
[8]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/decis...
[9]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
More recently, in 2014 and 2015, we have dealt with five complaints that
raise issues related to whistle blowing. All five concern the European
Commission. I am sorry not being able to provide you with more detailed
information on those cases, due to the fact that all are classified as
confidential.
Please do not hesitate to contact us again for clarifications or further
information.
Kind regards,
Peter Bonnor
[10]Logo European Ombudsman
Peter Bonnor
Head of Process Management & Inquiries Unit 5
T. +33 (0)3 88 17 25 41
[11][email address]
1 avenue du Président Robert Schuman
CS 30403
F - 67001 Strasbourg Cedex
T. + 33 (0)3 88 17 23 13
F. + 33 (0)3 88 17 90 62
[12]www.ombudsman.europa.eu
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
2. http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
3. http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
4. http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
5. http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/...
6. http://www.asktheeu.org/
7. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
8. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/decis...
9. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/art_2...
11. European Ombudsman Home Page
mailto:[email address]
12. European Ombudsman Home Page
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/