The Center for the Study of Democracy and the SELDI initiative have been members of the South-East European Coalition on Whistleblower Protection since its establishment in 2015. On 22 November 2021 they participated in the Annual Meeting of the Coalition held in Sarajevo, which gathered representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo*, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. The meeting focused on the process of drafting and implementing legislation for the protection of whistleblowers. The speakers highlighted that of all the countries represented in the coalition, Romania and Bulgaria are the only countries that have not yet adopted such laws due to a lack of permanent governments and legislative capacity. Despite the lack of a federal law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its two federal entities do have such a law. The event was accompanied by a multi-beneficiary training on the best methods for dealing with whistleblowing signals, protecting whistleblowers and working with investigative journalists.
The discussion was enriched by the key conclusions of the Gap Analysis of Whistleblower Protection Laws in the Western Balkans and Moldova delivered by the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative. The gap analysis focuses on the application of the 21 key standards established by the 2019 European Union (EU) Directive on the Protection of Persons who Report Breaches of Union Law.
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