Anti-corruption advocates universally praised the passage of new whistleblower protection rules by the European Union in 2019. Publicly, they used words like “victory” and “achievement.” Privately, some called the new rules “a miracle.” Many experts said the new protections were too good to be true. Two years later, it appears they may be right.

The first sign of trouble is the fact that only 4 of 27 countries met the EU’s deadline to pass a new whistleblower law by last Dec. 17: Denmark, Malta, Portugal and Sweden. Laws since have been passed by Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania. This leaves 20 countries out of compliance – and corruption witnesses in these countries still without legal protection from retaliation. Most of these countries are far from finalizing their laws, due to a lack of political will, expertise and experience with whistleblower cases. Doubt and fear have stymied the legislative process