WIN and EWI welcome Slovak Constitutional Court decision halting the abolition of the Whistleblower Protection Office

Joint Statement by the Whistleblowing International Network and the European Whistleblowing Institute

The Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and the European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI) join our partners in Slovakia in welcoming today’s decision of the Slovak Constitutional Court to suspend the abolition of the Whistleblower Protection Office (WPO). This decision offers an essential reprieve for whistleblowers whose legal protection was thrown into serious doubt following the parliamentary vote on Friday, 12 December, which sought to abolish the WPO by overriding the President’s veto announced the day before.

The Court’s decision means that the Whistleblower Protection Office will not cease to exist as of 1 January, and that its Chairperson, Zuzana Dlugošová, will continue to lead the institution pending the Court’s full review. While the Constitutional Court has made clear that the suspension does not prejudge the constitutionality of the law, it nevertheless sends a strong and timely signal that attempts to dismantle an independent safeguard through a fast-tracked process lacking proper evidence, consultation, and legal scrutiny raise serious constitutional concerns.

We are encouraged that the Constitutional Court will now examine the substance of the reform and the process through which it was adopted. We remain confident that the Court will reach the same conclusion as many experts in Slovakia and across Europe that the law, as adopted, constituted a grave attack on the rule of law, and that the procedure used represented an illegitimate and potentially unconstitutional exercise of power.

In our view, the attempt to abolish the WPO and effectively remove its leadership in the manner proposed amounts to interference with an independent authority required under EU law and undermines the legal certainty of whistleblower protection guaranteed by the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive. Such actions risk placing Slovakia in breach of its binding European obligations.

Today’s decision marks an important step toward reaffirming democratic accountability and safeguarding the right of all people in Slovakia to speak up in the public interest and to be protected when they do so.