Since 2014, Slovakia has had a law on whistleblower protection. The Slovak Cabinet passed an amendment including Transparency International Slovakia´s recommendations in November 2018. In March 2019, the new Act was adopted that introduced, among others, the establishment of a new Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers. However, the establishment of the office was put on hold for almost two years.
On February 5, 2021, The Slovak MPs finally elected the head of the Slovak Whistleblower Protection Office, Ms. Zuzana Dlugošová. In an interview for Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection, Coalition’s partner Ms. Zuzana Grochalová from Transparency International Slovakia gives details on the process and explains what this momentum means for the future of whistleblower protection in Slovakia.
The first question that naturally comes to mind is, why did it take so long to elect the head of the office and thus, hinder the functioning of the office as expected already two years ago? Was there a conflict directly concerning the candidatures, or other socio-political reasons?
There were various factors contributing to nearly 600 days delay to find a chair of the office. Secret ballots in Parliament can be identified as one of them – as MPs failed to elect any candidate in June 2019 at the first attempt as well as in repeated secret ballot on the next day. There have been no real obstacles that would prevent parliament from choosing from two candidates who meet the moral and professional criteria. Transparency International Slovakia criticized Parliament and MPs’ approach as ignoring the most transparent selection of candidates to Slovak public institutions since Slovakia became independent in 1993. This also discouraged quality candidates from applying in the second round. To prevent that to happen again, Transparency International Slovakia approached MPs in Slovak Parliament in November 2019 with an open letter in which the importance of public ballot as well as responsible attitude towards election of Head of new Whistleblowing Authority was underlined.
Only after the Parliamentary elections in February 2020, the new coalition mentioned the start of functioning of the Office in the government’s agenda, but a pandemic situation changed the priorities. Transparency International Slovakia repeatedly called for the office to be made functional. Meanwhile the Ministry of Justice communicated whistleblowing as an important agenda, discussing whether the office itself should have broader competencies – like controlling also public figures´ asset declarations. Finally, the election agenda for the whistleblowing office was on the Parliamentary session´s schedule almost a year later after the government had changed – in the end of January 2021.
The selection procedure was carried out in two rounds. Can you briefly explain to us what the procedure consists of? What is the selection criteria and why was Ms. Dlugošová the best candidate for this position?
Public hearings (both, online and in person) of candidates in the June 2019 were perceived as an example of good practice. By live streaming the hearings, transparency and publicity of the process of selecting two best candidates was guaranteed. The hearings not only allowed to portray the candidates, but were also beneficial for bringing the whistleblowing agenda to attention of the public at large as both hearing days received significant media coverage.
The Commission was comprised of very competent members with available CVs (members appointed by the Office of the President, Government Office, Civil Service Council, Office of the Public Defender of Rights and the third sector) and dedicated more than enough time to the Q&A session. The questions were about management competences, career growth or model moral dilemmas. Transparency International Slovakia was present at the hearing and asked questions about candidates´ expertise, their understanding of the Act, whistleblowing agenda, which contributed to generate a better understanding of their qualification and personal background.
The two recommended candidates were Ms. Monika Filipová and Ms. Zuzana Dlugošová. Even though the recommended winner by TI – Slovakia was Mr. Martin Rajňák, an analyst at the Supreme Audit Office (NKU), the other two candidates also matched TI – Slovakia’s main selection categories ; most suitable and suitable candidates. Like I said, none of the candidates managed to receive a majority of votes at that time. Four months later, another call for applications and public hearings was opened and candidates reapplied, except for Ms. Filipová. Within 15 days of the hearings, the Expert Commission selected and recommended again two candidates, this time Ms. Dlugošová and Mr. Rajňák. In September 2020, the new government gave the approval for both of them and the Parliament decided on Ms. Dlugosova, who received 80 out of 117 votes from present MPs.
TI Slovakia has long advocated for the establishment of a Whistleblower Protection Office and we, as SEE Coalition on Whistleblower Protection have been following up on the Slovak case and are aware of the importance and advantages of such an office. What were some of the problems or challenges in this regard that are now expected to be overcome thanks to the newly established office? Generally, what is the office empowered and able to do to protect, support and compensate whistleblowers?
The lack of public awareness of the law as well as distrust on functional protecting mechanisms are considered two major challenges to be overcome by the new office. If people do not know that there are legislative guarantees protecting them against retaliation, they cannot use it. Under-reporting might be considered as a consequence of the law awareness, too. TI Slovakia published results of public opinion polls about willingness to report wrongdoing at the workplace every year.
The main activity of the Office is to support and protect employees who report corruption and unfair practices. It should also raise awareness of legal protection. Moreover, it should offer training to employers in order to establish internal processes of reporting in an effective and responsive way. The main tasks of the Office are providing protection to whistleblowers as well as expert opinions and advice on the application of the law; and control whether the law is being observed. It also rewards those who report on unlawful activities.
The Office will be also responsible for raising public awareness and for counselling in collaboration with non-governmental organizations. According to the law, NGOs also participate in filling the positions in the Office – this has already been done during the interrogation of candidates for the position of Chairman.
The training of those in charge of receiving notifications (the so-called responsible persons in the workplace defined in the amendment of law) should also be provided by the new Office, which is very welcomed as the formal approach to this aspect of whistleblower’s protection was confirmed by data collected from 28 key state institutions in recent years (ministries and governmental authorities).
Despite the fact that the number of trained employees responsible for receiving, verifying and keeping records of notifications in these organisations doubled since Amendment of Law in 2019, still in 2019 one in four organisations was without a qualified staff within this field (even though the law imposes such an obligation) and due to pandemic situation there has been almost any upgrade in training or educating those employees responsible for whistleblowing agenda in 28 key public institutions in 2020.
The SEECWP serves, among others, as a platform for sharing expertise and know-how with NGOs, policy-makers, activists, researchers, etc. In this context, we aim to build on the experiences of our members so that best practices are eventually in place. What are the ways that you, as an organization can contribute to the well-functioning of this office?
TI Slovakia has supported whistleblowers in many ways, by taking up alternative initiatives in the context of poor legal whistleblower protection – e.g. training municipal governments and other authorities responsible for handling disclosures, supporting education and engagement of citizens and journalists to monitor sectors where corruption frequently occurs; reporting those results to authorities, media, and the wider public, including appropriate international bodies, and monitoring of government responses. Initiative created by TI Slovakia and titled #BackingBoldOnes has brought together more than 700 companies with more than 200 000 employees willing to support whistleblowers by offering them job opportunities, career advice and counseling.
However, TI Slovakia is prepared to share data as well as good practice with the new Office including possibilities of initiative bringing together private companies helping those from the public sector who decide to speak up.This initiative has inspired our colleagues in Czech Republic who founded the League of Brave Ones based on our experience and expertise.
Under the new rules the person in charge of reviewing the merits of whistleblowers’ reports at the working place must be qualified to perform their duties. However, these qualifications are not specified in the Act and no formal training courses, seminars nor certificates
for responsible persons have been introduced. In October 2018, TI Slovakia published a ranking of the 100 Biggest Slovak Municipalities based on 100 indicators including questions about the number of received reports of wrongdoing from 2014-2018. According to the survey, 89% of Slovak cities never received any report. That is why later on TI Slovakia has organized trainings and even a conference for responsible persons from local governments and public institutions and where good practice from the private sector as well as from abroad has been presented.
BIO:
Zuzana Grochalová studied Culturology at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, she spent two semesters at Palacký University in Olomouc and one semester at Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She worked in the non-profit sector as a coordinator of scholarship programs and as a specialist for communication. Zuzana joined Transparency International Slovakia as junior fundraiser and project coordinator for whistleblowing projects in 2018.
TI Slovakia have been the leading organization working toward advancing whistleblower protection and overseeing the implementation and measuring the effectiveness of corruption reporting systems. It has been involved in the protection of whistleblowers since 2001 as TI SK has opened the topic as the first one in Slovakia. Our mission is to reduce corruption and increase transparency of the institutions. We observe the powerful, propose solutions, and engage people in public control. Transparency International was founded in Berlin in 1993 by a group of economists who were increasingly aware of the major impediments to corruption in the fight against poverty in developing countries. At present, Transparency has more than a hundred branches with its headquarters in Berlin, Germany. The Slovak branch was established in 1998 by the initiative of Eugen Jurzyca, Director of the Center for Economic Development. In 2002, it started to act alone as an independent civic association – Transparency International Slovakia.
