EU English

Who are whistleblowers? Are their actions illegal? Or are they protected by law? Find out more on this topic from the article below. The expressions highlighted in green are closely related to whistleblowers and help you understand the concept behind this term. You will also find some useful expressions to remember (highlighted in red) along with the prepositions they often go with. Fill in the expressions below and memorize the expressions.

leak information                            reveal illegalities                            gives cover

indicted Deltour on charges                      triggered a European Commission probe

LuxLeaks source appeals for EU whistleblower laws

Antoine Deltour, who faces prison after showing how Luxembourg cost the EU billions in lost tax revenue, has appealed for better protection for whistleblowers. He told the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday (1 June) that he’s “proud of what has resulted from my case”

Luxembourg has one of the most advanced whistleblower protection regimes in the EU, according to the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International (TI). Its law on “strengthening the means to fight corruption” (1) ……………………………………………………. to public and private sector employees who report criminal activity to their superiors or to Luxembourg authorities. But it doesn’t cover people who report unethical behaviour or who (2) ………………………………………………………………….. to media or civil society.

“You are protected if you (3) ……………………………………………… The [tax] rulings that I disclosed aren’t illegal, even though they go against the public interest. This is why I went to the press and not to the authorities”, Deltour said. The former employee at PwC, an audit firm, five years ago passed 28,000 internal files to a French reporter.

The files show that the Grand Duchy let hundreds of big companies pay almost no tax in sweetheart deals, known as “comfort letters”, which also resulted in lost revenue for fellow EU states.

The revelations (4) …………………………………………………………………………………………….and a European Parliament special committee on “LuxLeaks”. They also shamed EU commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, a former Luxembourg PM. Luxembourg prosecutors, the same month (5) ……………………………… which could see him jailed for five years and fined €1.25 million.

But Molly Scott Cato, a British Green MEP on the LuxLeaks committee, the same day accused Luxembourg of “state oppression of a person acting in the public good”. Alain Lamassoure, the French centre-right committee chair, also said the EU should take action on whistleblowers.

You may read the complete article here.

Answer key

(1) gives cover

(2) leak information

(3) reveal illegalities

(4) triggered a European Commission probe

(5) indicted Deltour on charges

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