New Legal Standards for Whistleblowers in the Light of the Directive (EU) 2019/1973 on the Protection of Persons Who Report Breaches of Union Law. Case Study: Romania

According to the recently adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1973, the whistleblower protection is fragmented across Member States and the consequences of breaches of Union law with a cross-border dimension reported by whistleblowers illustrate how insufficient protection in one Member State negatively impacts the functioning of Union policies not only in that Member State, but also in other Member States and in the Union as a whole. The aim of this paper is to analyze what are the new legal standards imposed by the Directive to the Member States in order to ensure an effective protection for whistleblower in the Member States through national legislation. The case study of the paper will start by identifying and presenting the current legal standards for protecting the whistleblowers in Romania, explaining the mechanism and institutions in charge to do that. By making a comparison with the provision of the Directive, the research will offer some proposals for changing the current national legislation in accordance with the objectives imposed by the Directive.