Follow the Money EU

This week in Bureau Brussels: - The Netherlands could backtrack on promises it made to secure EU funding - US private equity giant KKR could face a $195 million fine for allegedly misleading the Commission - A new era of robot-assisted transparency requests and responses could be on the horizon

The Russian space programme is a shadow of what it was in the Soviet era. But that doesn’t make it any less dangerous, experts warn, as Russia still manages to launch weapons into space. And this certainly leaves Europe vulnerable.

An online shop selling drugs similar to ecstasy, but legal? In this week’s podcast, journalist @nikkibrands.bsky.social explained how slight changes to the chemical structure of ‘designer drugs’ create a legal grey area. 🔗 Latest episode: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

The EPP paid two consultants close to Greece’s ruling party over €570,000 in six months. Insiders questioned their value, and Parliament refused to cover the full bill. Now, EU prosecutors are investigating, putting the party and its leader, Manfred Weber, under fresh pressure.

In five years, we’ve made a few enemies in Brussels. With our readers behind us, we’ll keep making more. Our members fund a third of our work. Help us keep digging for the next five years. 🔗🎈*Join today and get two free welcome gifts!: www.ftm.eu/subscribe *T&C's apply.

It threatens forests, waterways, and traditional communities, critics say. The project? A soybean port in the Amazon that US food giant Cargill wants to build. A Brazilian judge has halted those plans. It's a major setback for the company, but the battle over the Amazon is far from over …

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In this month’s Off the Books newsletter: - The alleged mastermind behind a major VAT fraud case faces court in Riga - Washington and Brussels turn up the heat on financial crime - How simplification without safeguards opens the door to tax evasion Written by FTM's @salsabilfayed.bsky.social

How can finance checks designed to prevent terrorism end up harming ordinary people? In our latest podcast, journalist and author @oliverbullough.bsky.social unpacked how the global anti-money laundering system falls short. 🔗 Latest episode: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

This week in Bureau Brussels: - After years of struggling to access information, our new guide for journalists offers a glimpse of hope - More clarity to come on what von der Leyen and JD Vance agreed on at the AI summit in Paris - NATO raids a controversial Romanian firm in a bribery crackdown

‘Ghost passengers’ are travelling aboard Russian ships that are transporting tanks and armored vehicles to Africa. FTM and its media partners discovered 28 mysterious individuals who are likely carrying forged documents. “It’s more than likely an intelligence operation.”

Palantir has earned a controversial reputation, from its work with ICE and the Israeli military to allegations linking its technology to the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran. Yet European governments keep signing deals with the tech giant, some worth hundreds of millions. Which ones, and why?

Governments have spent billions fighting money laundering. But are their efforts working? Emma du Chatinier and Roel Janssen spoke to British investigative journalist and author @oliverbullough.bsky.social about why the failing system and the consequences. 🎧 Full episode: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

Donald Trump wants Europe to pay more for medicines for a simple reason: so Americans can pay less. But his plan threatens to have the exact opposite effect. Pharmaceutical companies are considering not releasing medicines in Europe at all. One expert calls the policy "monstrosity".

Can sports and politics ever be separated? In our latest podcast episode, journalist @krijns.bsky.social argues not. 🔗 Listen to the full episode on our website, app, or on all major streaming platforms: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

Financially independent, yet set to receive €43m from the institution they’re independent of. Also this week in Bureau Brussels: industry’s push to remove evidence that could trigger EU protections, and growing tender-rule breaches in the €228bn EU budget.

This week, we celebrated five years of our Brussels desk and of holding European power to account. From Von der Leyen’s deleted texts and Russia’s shadow fleet to Huaweigate and scandals at NATO, our newsletter this week looks back at the stories that defined our reporting.

Five years ago, we set up in Brussels to hold European power to account. We've reported on missing billions, exposed hidden dealings that harm society, and have become a headache for the powerful. The threats and insults keep coming. So do our investigations.

EU lawmakers are flying farther and more often – even to Singapore to study transparency. But their own travel costs remain unclear. As expenses soar, questions are growing over what taxpayers are actually getting in return for these trips.

Russia was banned from major international football competitions after invading Ukraine. But the money kept flowing: European clubs continued doing millions of euros worth of business with Russian clubs. 🔗In our latest podcast, Krijn Schramade explains what he found: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

MEPs could spend €80 million on travel next year, yet taxpayers can barely scrutinise the bill. After Nathan Gill was jailed for taking pro-Russian bribes, the European Parliament gave us a rare look into his expense records.

A hacker just outed Curaçao’s casino owners. The leaked files finally put names to the people behind thousands of gambling sites. Many illegally preyed on thousands of customers around the world. 🔗 Full investigation: www.ftm.eu/articles/cur...

In the heart of European democracy, Ursula von der Leyen spoke about Europe’s future. Before journalists could ask questions, she was out the door. Also in this week’s Bureau Brussels: lawmakers challenge deleted texts, and a delayed report leaves questions over a €10 million grant unanswered.

Over 20,000 people read Bureau Brussels for weekly EU insights and updates on the deals and decisions shaping their lives and work. Brussels’ largest investigative team watches the bubble and asks the questions those inside try to avoid. 📬 Read it for free every Monday: www.ftm.eu/newsletter-o...

The EU set out to protect the world's forests. Then, it watered down its landmark Deforestation Regulation and delayed it twice. Brussels blamed technical problems, but journalist Hans Wetzels found that there was a lot more to the story.

Pollute or fall behind? Europe faces a stark choice in the space race. SpaceX wants to launch a million data-centre satellites, but scientists warn that a crowded orbit could trigger collisions, disrupting communications, navigation, and internet access on Earth.

What did Ursula von der Leyen omit from her State of the European Union address? Why were two Russian oligarchs removed from the EU sanctions list? And how did the bloc’s independent anti-fraud watchdog end up evaluating itself? Find out in this week’s Bureau Brussels.

This week at Follow the Money: 🇪🇺 Could Brussels’ control of funds for poorer regions deepen political divides? 🎰 Leaked files expose Curaçao casino owners and regulators accused of missing red flags 💸 Meet Off the Books, our newsletter on fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion

What happens when Europe’s poorest regions lose control of the funding meant for them? Brussels wants to centralise the system, a shift that could deepen divides, fuel the far right and, insiders warn, give Ursula von der Leyen more control over the EU budget.

After 10 years covering financial crime, tax fraud, and those trying to stop it, Salsabil Fayed is launching a new monthly newsletter: Off the Books. In this first edition, she looks at Europe’s VAT fraud problem, the UN tax convention debate, and the EPPO’s cross-border work.

Namibia was meant to help power Europe’s climate goals, with billions in EU-backed green hydrogen investment promising jobs and growth. But when journalist @oli4vb.bsky.social travelled there, he found a very different reality. 🔗 Full episode: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

Think you know who runs Europe? Think again. Every Wednesday, @emmaduchatinier.bsky.social dives into a Follow the Money investigation exposing hidden powerbrokers, from lobbyists and companies to corrupt politicians and fraudsters. 🎧 Follow the podcast here: www.ftm.eu/files/who-re...

Curaçao is home to a secretive network of thousands of gambling sites, some illegally targeting customers worldwide. Who is behind them? A hacker obtained confidential documents revealing the identities of their hidden owners.

Our reporters, much like the rest of the bloc (and Canada), are still digesting Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech. One of her boldest messages took aim at Big Tech, but we’ve learned that some of the experts advising her panel have ties to the industry.

This week at Follow the Money: 👕 Europe’s discarded clothes, traced to gruelling factory work in Pakistan 📱 Von der Leyen’s messages will keep being auto-deleted 🌳 How a Malta-sized Bolivian forest ended up with an agribusiness giant 🎮 Gaming firms lobby against tougher EU rules

Europe may be tightening rules on unsold clothing, but a deeper problem remains untouched: overproduction. We spoke to people dealing with the mess outside EU, including workers sorting up to 17 tonnes a day for below-minimum pay in gruelling conditions, many of them climate-displaced themselves.

Brussels was told to stop deleting von der Leyen’s texts. It’s sticking with auto-delete. The Commission says preserving them for public access requests “cannot be reconciled with the necessary cybersecurity measure”, while a legal expert says they could simply be stored securely elsewhere.

In one of the EU’s largest-ever fraud cases, involving €520 million in VAT and two mafia groups, six suspects have been sentenced to years in prison by a court in Milan. The EU’s top prosecution office said the scheme caused “massive damage to national and EU budgets.”

Rabobank backed a multimillion-euro plan to protect a Bolivian forest the size of Malta. Instead, it was bought by a Brazilian agribusiness giant accused of major deforestation, with a Rabobank employee helping secure the acquisition. Now its future is in question.

You might not know what a loot box is, but there's teenagers out there who will spent thousands of euros on them from their parent's credit card. Welcome to the fiercest Brussels lobbying battle you have never heard about, but which could completely re-shape the world of online gaming. 🧵

Gambling-like features are turning some video games into spending traps for children. Some teenagers have spent thousands on ‘loot boxes’, purchases made without knowing what you’ll get. Brussels wants tougher rules, but the industry is lobbying hard, with a powerful ally inside the Commission.

This week in Bureau Brussels: - Farming lobbies’ strategy strategy to weaken pesticide rules - A new social network gets Ursula von der Leyen’s approval - The EU Ombudsman opens another case over rejected FTM records request

This week at Follow the Money: 💶 We traced how €6bn in EU innovation funding was spent 🎓 We examined universities’ ties with Israeli institutions 🛢️ We followed Namibia’s green hydrogen and oil boom 🌱 We questioned carbon-credit claims 📚 We opened free access to students

Follow the Money is looking for student ambassadors! 📚 Help bring independent investigative journalism to your university and introduce more students to FTM and our free student membership. 💡 The deadline for applications is this Monday 14 September! Apply and see more information below.

AI data centres come with huge environmental costs. One British firm thinks it’s found a bold solution: power them with landfill gas and sell carbon credits for it. But that gas is already required by law to be captured.

𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲. Get unlimited access to our investigations into money, power, politics, Big Tech, climate, and more. No paywall, no cost, just radically independent journalism that holds power to account. 🔗 Sign up here: www.ftm.eu/student?utm_...