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...

45 million more people risk acute hunger as conflict and the Strait of Hormuz closure disrupt supply chains. UN World Food Programme analyst Jean-Martin Bauer warns that war, extreme weather, and instability are straining the food system. “People around the world are going to feel this.”

‘We’re in big trouble’: UN food agency sounds alarm over global hunger crisis

Jean-Martin Bauer, a director at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), has spent 25 years tackling hunger around the world. In an interview with FTM, he warned that famines are returning, hunger is risin...

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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.

Podcast | The fight over Europe’s promise to save forests

A landmark EU law was meant to ensure that products such as coffee, soy, and timber do not fuel deforestation globally. However, the legislation has been watered down and delayed twice – with Brussels...

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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.

The new space race forces Europe to choose: pollute or get left behind

The race for space is accelerating, with US and Chinese interests staking out an increasingly crowded orbit. Space belongs to everyone, but regulation is lagging behind plans to launch ever more satel...

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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.

What von der Leyen left out of her Congress of Europe pitch

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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

Brussels wants more control over funding for its poorest regions

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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.

Why taking EU funding away from mayors could empower the far right

For decades, the EU has spent billions developing its poorer regions. Now the European Commission wants to centralise control over that cash, sidelining mayors and regional policymakers – and giving B...

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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.

Europe has a VAT fraud problem. What’s it actually doing about it?

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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.

Curaçao’s secretive gambling industry exposed in leak

Leaked documents have exposed the hidden owners of secretive gambling sites operating from Curaçao, some of whom have amassed huge fortunes. The files also reveal that the Caribbean island’s gaming re...

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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.

Experts with Big Tech ties advised von der Leyen’s child social media panel

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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

Damage, denial, displacement

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Did you share your travels on Polarsteps this summer? You may have shared more than you realised. FTM found the app can expose locations to within a metre, letting us trace over 30 military personnel to bases, missions, and homes. Since our investigation, the Dutch military has blacklisted it.

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.

Inside the Pakistani factories where exploited workers process Europe’s discarded clothes

Europeans’ appetite for fast fashion produces mountains of discarded clothing that the bloc cannot process. Many of the unwanted clothes end up in Pakistan, where they are sorted in factories with no ...

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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.

EU executive will keep deleting von der Leyen’s texts, despite watchdog warnings

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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.”

Ringleader of one of the EU’s biggest VAT fraud cases jailed for years in Italy

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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.

Rabobank backed a bid to preserve a Bolivian forest. It lost to Brazil’s ‘king of soy’

The family behind one of the world’s biggest soy producers has bought a crucial patch of forest in Bolivia, raising serious concerns over disastrous environmental consequences. Now, FTM can reveal tha...

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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.

Tech giants fight EU crackdown on video games that push children to spend

The EU is working on a law to curb some of the video gaming industry’s most controversial practices. Campaigners warn that children are especially vulnerable to gambling-like features designed to enco...

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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

Less red tape, more pesticides? Bee careful what you ‘simplify’

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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

Promises, pressure & public money

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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.

Follow the Money is looking for student ambassadors!

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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.

‘Money for old rope’: AI data centre firm criticised for dubious carbon claim

A British tech firm plans to power AI data centres with landfill gas, and sell carbon credits for the emissions it claims this will save. But the gas earmarked for the project is already being capture...

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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_...

Europe’s green energy poster child could become an oil powerhouse. Backed by €1 billion in promised EU funding for green hydrogen, Namibia was meant to support the bloc’s energy transition. But as those plans stall, a fossil fuel lobby group has a blunt message for the country: “drill, baby, drill”.

Europe’s green hydrogen hopes suffer fresh setback in Namibia

The European Union has bet heavily on Namibia as a future source of green hydrogen to help meet its climate goals. Yet a senior official now says major exports to Europe are unlikely, at a time when t...

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Crime & Corruption is back after a short break. This week: a Brussels power struggle with party politics underneath it, two EU watchdogs fighting all the way to Europe’s top court, Nigel Farage aides quitting over foreign money talks, a landmark Belgian bribery case and more.

The EPP eyes one of Brussels’ last power centres

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Universities said they would boycott Israeli universities over the war in Gaza. Yet in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and beyond, cooperation continues, including on projects with potential military applications. Institutions say there are significant obstacles to walking away.

European universities promised to cut Israeli research ties. Dozens didn’t

European universities are continuing to work with Israeli research and technology partners after announcing they would cut ties over Gaza. These include collaborations on projects with potential milit...

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€6bn to help solve Europe’s biggest challenges. Inside the organisations trusted with that money, FTM found business-class upgrades on short flights, free-flowing alcohol at staff events, and up to 200 employees flown in for lavish gatherings. One insider called it “burning money”.

Booze, bonuses, and wasted money plague EU’s €6bn bet on innovation

The EU’s flagship innovation network has received billions of euros to develop solutions to major societal challenges. But Follow the Money found evidence of wasteful spending, weak governance, and po...

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A secret donor is funding an Israel-backing MEP’s security. Parliament approved it, but won’t say what exactly it approved. Now, the European Ombudsman is investigating after our complaint. Also in Bureau Brussels: what shapes an MEP’s vote, and who will fund Europe’s investigative watchdogs?

EU watchdog probes secret donor behind pro-Israel MEP

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