ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM: NEW COMMISSION RULES ON WHISTLEBLOWING AND MEDIATION.

The European Commission has adopted two new Decisions on rules for whistleblowing and strengthening the mediation service. The Decisions cover instances where officials want to report cases of misconduct outside the Commission. The second Decision allows the mediation service to make general recommendations about how to improve relations between staff and the administration based on its experience of individual cases.Since 1999, all officials have been under the obligation to report allegations of any serious wrongdoing to their superiors, to the Secretariat-General or directly to the EU's Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF. Officials who abide by this obligation are shielded from any negative consequences of notifying misconduct. The Commission's new Decision allows for such allegations to be reported outside the Commission in the following circumstances: if the official concerned has informed OLAF of allegations of serious wrongdoing which they honestly believes to be fundamentally true and has given OLAF a reasonable period in which to carry out an investigation. The official may then report the allegations to the President of either the Court of Auditors, the European Parliament, or the Council of Ministers, or to the European Ombudsman. Officials abiding by these conditions are shielded from any negative consequences. However, the Decision makes clear that this protection does not exonerate any official from personal responsibility with regard to a third party which might be enforced under national legislation, i.e...