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Welcome back to Bureau Brussels – your weekly deep dive into the power plays, backroom deals, and investigations shaping life for millions of people across the bloc. 

What’s in store this week?

  • The Commission’s transparency reforms, fact-checked
  • Is Brussels cutting red tape or weakening tax rules?
  • Our journalist gets lost in the EU’s bureaucratic maze

STORY OF THE WEEK


The Commission’s transparency problem, in its own words

On Monday, European Commissioner Piotr Serafin presented proposals to shake up Brussels’ often arcane ways of working at an all-hands meeting. The recommendations, distilled from nine months of work by 150 officials, promptly leaked to the press. We got a copy from our friends at Contexte.

The paper calls for a Brussels perestroika (late Soviet speak for “restructuring”). It targets the European Commission’s approach to transparency, particularly its access to documents procedure – the official name for the EU’s freedom of information system. According to the paper, the process is “under strain from obsolete concepts, inconsistent filing practices, the growing volume of requests, [and] high transaction costs linked to manual redaction”.

According to a Commission insider, the unnamed authors are senior officials with intimate knowledge of how the institution works. They call for clearer guidance, better tools, and stronger operational support for handling information requests. They’re also pushing for “better filing and archiving practices”. It’s hard not to see this as a nod to Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s frequently disappearing texts.

Some of the measures are welcome. Others are not. The document contains a worrying stab against transparency. It wrongly claims that access to documents requests are increasing. The Commission’s own annual reports show otherwise: requests have been falling in recent years. Based on this bogus claim, the authors argue that transparency makes it “harder to preserve a safe space for internal policy development that fosters experimentation and responsible risk-taking”.

Anyone who knows their way around the law – and the Commission’s transparency practices – are likely sceptical. EU rules allow institutions to withhold documents if disclosure would harm internal decision-making, and courts have repeatedly backed their need for a “space to think”. What’s more, von der Leyen tightened the existing rules for the document retrieval process days after the start of her second mandate in December 2024.

This is only the opening act. In October, a high-ranking group of external experts led by former Commission Secretary General Catherine Day will weigh in on the recommendations. This will ultimately lead to a formal report by Commissioner Serafin, to be adopted by his colleagues in the College of Commissioners. Whether Brussels gets its promised perestroika – or even a little glasnost, Soviet speak for openness – remains to be seen.

Alexander Fanta

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Other news from the EU bubble Brussels, the place that sends you mad

Fifty years ago, The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, the French animated classic, hit cinemas. One of its most memorable moments sees protagonist Astérix trapped in an endless loop of bureaucracy with every official sending him to another desk. I’ve been feeling a bit like the moustachioed Gaul myself lately. I’ve been trying to obtain two reports from the EU’s anti-fraud agency OLAF about a private distributor of grants from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). OLAF said it couldn’t release them because the EIT was still carrying out “follow-up procedures” based on the reports. But when asked what these procedures were – and why they prevented publication – the EIT replied that OLAF reports were confidential. “As they are not EIT documents, the EIT is not authorised to disclose them or comment on this aspect.” Ils sont fous…

Peter Teffer

Is the EU reducing red tape or opening the door to tax avoidance? 

The European Parliament’s tax subcommittee (FISC) put the Commission’s Direct Tax Omnibus package under the microscope last Tuesday. The proposal aims to simplify EU tax legislation. During the panel, experts welcomed the efforts to reduce administrative burdens, but cautioned against weakening anti-tax avoidance safeguards. Many stressed that simplification should not come at the expense of transparency, legal certainty, or effective enforcement. Members of European Parliament (MEPs) also questioned whether the proposal strikes the right balance between boosting competitiveness and preserving fair taxation across the Union. 

Salsabil Fayed

Our latest investigationsFIFA risks prosecution over World Cup payments to Russian clubs

As the World Cup nears its finale, FIFA is already in hot water. Could it be heading for a red card? After controversy over its ties to Donald Trump, FIFA risks prosecution for sending $1.2 million to Russian clubs linked to sanctioned entities. With another round of payments approaching, will FIFA risk repeating the same foul?

Read the full article

Podcast | Special: Is Spain really Europe’s progressive poster child?

For many observers across Europe, Spain has become a rare success story – offering hope that progressive politics can still succeed, govern, and project confidence on the world stage. But the reality behind its image as the continent’s left-wing darling is more complicated, says Spanish political scientist and activist Elsa Arnaiz.