Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 16th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview VII. Working Group on Public Sector Transparency Author(s) Victor Alistar Transparency International Romania Bucharest Romania Nastase Andreea, Nastase A. Title The protection of whistleblowers in Romania File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract This paper analyses the Romanian public policy on whistleblower protection using as a conceptual framework the policy cycle perspective (also known as the “stages approach”) to delineate the relevant phases in the analysis. The authors explore the context surrounding the adoption of Law no. 571/2004, with a view to identifying the principal policy actors involved and their respective motivations, as well as the dynamics of agenda setting and negotiation processes. To account for the progress in implementation, the authors consider in particular the process by which the regulations of national were translated and diffused inside public organizations, as well as the linkages established to other anticorruption instruments. Equally important, the paper gives an account of Transparency International Romania’s advocacy strategy on this issue, in order to provide an example of effective non-governmental involvement in the policy process. The paper finds that, despite the initial success in getting whistleblower protection on the governmental agenda and constructing a strong legislative instrument, the policy is lagging in implementation and therefore not achieving the desired anticorruption impact. The lack of appropriate institutional structures charged with overseeing implementation, as well as the absence of sanctions for non-compliance are the main causes which explain this regrettable situation. More importantly, however, the evolution of whistleblower protection policy in Romania confirms the lack of genuine domestic political will to fight corruption. It demonstrates that, although the establishment of an appropriate legal framework is certainly a crucial gain, it is only the first step in building an effective and sustainable anticorruption effort.
