Threat to the protection of personal data in Belgium: European civil society is concerned
However, they pointed out legal incompatibilities and conflicts of interest likely to harm the proper performance of the missions of this organization, in total contradiction with the spirit and the letter of the GDPR which requires the independence of the control bodies. Breaches of probity were subsequently revealed without this giving rise to an adequate and proportionate reaction on the part of the Belgian authorities. This inaction worries us and we regret that it took the European Commission threatening Belgium to take the matter to the EU Court of Justice for the problem to be taken seriously.
We also regret that the Belgian authorities do not preserve whistleblowers who are already badly bruised. One of these whistleblowers ended up resigning, in December 2021, under the effect of the pressures to which she was subjected. The other has just been auditioned in Parliament and risks the revocation of his mandate. She suffered personal attacks, also targeting those around her. His loyalty was questioned. She and her colleague were silenced.
At a time when Europe wants to spearhead the protection of whistleblowers with a resolutely progressive directive that prohibits all forms of reprisals, does Belgium really want to set such an example? Through the case of Charlotte Dereppe, all professionals are called upon to turn a blind eye to the reprehensible practices they witness. Do we not want, on the contrary, to encourage them to defend the public interest?
Conflicts of interest raise doubts that plague our democracies. The digital grip on our lives carries threats that concern us all. This is why the European institutions have designed safeguards. Public administrations should not be exempted from the requirements they impose on the private sector in this respect. They must even show them the example. The reputation and the creation of our institutions are at stake at a time when the confidence of citizens in democracy is already largely eroded.
For all these reasons, we salute Charlotte Dereppe’s determination and ask the Belgian Parliament to draw the consequences of her alert in reality to all conflicts of interest in terms of data protection. We also invite him to transpose the European directive without delay and, in the meantime, to grant Charlotte Dereppe the protection due to whistleblowers.
* Human Rights League (Belgium), Maison des Lanceurs d’Alerte (France), International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH (International), The Signals Network (International), GlobaLeaks (International), Transparency International EU (International), EU DisinfoLab (International), Civil Liberties Union for Europe (International), European digital rights – EDRI (International), Whistleblowing International Network (International), Blueprint for Free Speech (International), FEM&L.AW (Belgium), CSC Services Publics (Belgium) ) ), FGTB (Belgium), ANTICOR (France), APESAC (France), Nothing2Hide (France), Transparency International France (France), National Union of Journalists – SNJ (France), Sciences Citoyennes (France), InterHop (France) , CFDT-Journalistes (France), Human Rights League – LDH (France), Sherpa (France), La Quadrature du Net (France), SpeakOut SpeakUp Ltd (United Kingdom), Defend Democracy (Netherlands) , Ηοmo Digitalis (Greece), IT-Pol (Denmark), Electronics F rontier Finland – Effi (Finland), Citizen D / Državljan D (Slovenia), Oživení NGO (Czech Republic), Pištaljka (Serbia), Government Accountability Project (USA), African Center for Media & Information Literacy – AFRICMIL (Nigeria) , Elise Degrave, professor at the University of Namur, Serge Gutwirth, hoogleraar aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Benoit Frydman, professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Franck Dumortier, researcher at the Cyber and Data Security Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Jos Dumortier, Prof. Emeritus KU Leuven, Yves Moreau, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dan Van Raemdonck, professor at the Free University of Brussels and at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Honorary President of the Human Rights League and member of Carta Academica, Vincent Engel, professor at UCLouvain and writer, Yves Cartuyvels, full professor at Saint-Louis University, Alban de Kerchove d’Exaerde, FRS-FNRS Research Director and professor at the Free University of Bruxelles, Franklin Dehousse, professor at the University of Liège, Michel Gevers, Emeritus Professor at UCLouvain, Daniel de Beer, Honorary Professor at Saint-Louis University, Patricia Naftali, Professor at the Free University of Brussels and at the Haute Ecole Bruxelles-Brabant, Marc Verdussen, professor at UCLouvain, Amélie Lachapelle, lecturer at UNamur and senior researcher at CRIDS/NaDI, Benjamin Docquir, scientific collaborator at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Diane Bernard, professor at the University é Saint-Louis, Céline Romainville, professor at UCLouvain, Christine Guillain, professor at Saint-Louis University – Brussels, Nicolas Thirion, professor at the University of Liège, Graziella Fourez, doctoral researcher at Saint-Louis University Louis-Bruxelles, Sybille Smeets, professor at the Free University of Brussels, Marie-Sophie Devresse, professor at UCLouvain, Min Reuchamps, professor at UCLouvain, Jacques Englebert, lawyer and professor at the Free University of Brussels , Frédéric Bouhon, professor at the University of Liège, Catherine Forget, lawyer and assistant at the University Saint-Louis, Laurent de Sutter, professor at the Vrije Universiteit van Brussel and at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, Maryse Alié, lawyer and assistant at Saint-Louis University and at the Free University of Brussels, Vincent Laborderie, Lecturer, UCLouvain, Olivier Servais, Professor at UCLouvain, Raphael Jungers, Professor at UCLouvain, Louise Fromont , In charge of research s FRS-FNRS, Free University of Brussels, Guillaume Derval, research assistant at ULiège, Pierre Schaus, Professor at UCLouvain, Thibaut Slingeneyer, Professor at UCLouvain – David Doat, Lecturer at the University Catholic University of Lille – Malik Bozzo-Rey, Research Director, Catholic University of Lille – Elisabeth Paul, lecturer at the Free University of Brussels, Aurore Joncret, assistant at UMONS-ULB, Jean -Marc Sparenberg, Professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Anne-Emmanuelle Bourgaux, professor, constitutional expert at UMONS and her students: Julie Deschamps, student at UMONS-ULB, Labovir-IUS, Lenny Ferreti, student at UMONS -ULB, Labovir-IUS, Nassim El Ghaidi, student at UMONS-ULB, Labovir-IUS, Lucas Pavone, student at UMONS-ULB, Labovir-IUS, Lina Turki, student at UMONS-ULB, Labovir -IUS, Axel Vandendyck, student at UMONS-ULB, Labovir-IUS, Théo de Roose, student at the University of Namur, Maurine Martin, student at the at the Faculty of Law of the University of Namur, Lucie Cluzel, Professor of Law, University of Paris Nanterre, Antoine Deltour, Luxleaks whistleblower, Wim Vandekerckhove, University of Greenwic.