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Welcome to Bureau Brussels – your weekly deep dive into the power plays, backroom deals, and expert investigations shaping life for over 450 million EU citizens. Tips or feedback? Reach us at [email protected]
This week: corruption, conservation, and carbon – business as usual in Brussels.
STORY OF THE WEEK
The EU office that called out a shady Dutch contractor
One small company, GW Cross Media, built a near-monopoly by archiving Dutch government websites, readers of our Dutch sister site ftm.nl learned last week. For years, local authorities allowed little competition – turning its owner into a multimillionaire.
The company soon set its sights on Europe. In 2018, it scored a €400,000-4-year EU tender, but when it came time to deliver, it ran head-first into the strict, no-nonsense oversight of the Publications Office of the European Union.
Just a few months into the contract, tensions flared. Released emails show the owner of GW Cross Media (the same man Dutch governments would later make a millionaire) lamenting the “excessive” amount of questions the Publications Office were asking. “For now it seems that for you the project is not about web archiving but has become an administrative project, all about reports,” he complained, claiming to have received 130 emails.
A Publications Office official (name redacted) coolly corrected the record – only 59 emails had been sent – and reminded the company: “The invitation to tender clearly set out the requirements, both operational and administrative.”
After more back-and-forth, the official tried to stay upbeat: “I am confident that these are teething problems.”
They weren’t. Less than three months later, the Publications Office issued a report with “points for improvement”, citing unfulfilled promises, missed deadlines and attempts by the company to charge “extra money for additional services” already covered by the contract.
By early 2019, GW Cross Media was summoned to Luxembourg. According to the minutes, both sides quickly “agreed that there was a mismatch between objectives and expectations”. It became clear the Dutch firm couldn’t deliver – and just like that, the four-year contract, terminated “by mutual agreement”, ended after a mere 15 months.
Peter Teffer
Other news from the EU bubble
From donor darling to disgrace, Chad expels African Parks – EU money on hold
African Parks – Africa’s largest manager of nature reserves and a long-time EU funding favourite – has been ordered to leave Chad.
The NGO, which counts Prince Harry among its board members, was once hailed as a saviour of African wildlife.
But after a string of scandals and investigations into unexplained animal deaths this year, Chad’s government now accuses African Parks of financial mismanagement, fraud, and turning a blind eye to poaching. Officials called out the group’s “rude and disrespectful” attitude and were not amused to find out it holds several offshore bank accounts on the Isle of Man, a notorious tax haven.
Despite having poured over €150 million into African Parks, according to internal sources, the EU has grown critical of African Parks’ performance for some time amid corruption complaints and funds allegedly being diverted. The European Commission has confirmed to Follow the Money that the contribution of approximately 10 million euro to the project is currently put on hold.
This marks the first time an African government has cut ties with the powerful conservation NGO. African Parks did not directly respond to the allegations, but said in a statement that it was in talks with the government.
Olivier van Beemen
AI’s power problem? Brussels isn’t losing sleep
The AI fever gripping financial markets has delayed the phase-out of coal plants in the U.S. and is sparking fresh investment in nuclear energy. Yet, despite rising concerns over AI’s carbon footprint, the new European Commission push to “Apply AI” appears unworried about the technology’s soaring energy demands. Instead, the new report urges the energy sector to adopt AI to optimise energy grids and storage, while offering only a cursory nod to the rapid rise in energy consumption the technology is expected to bring.
Its only tangible commitment? Hidden deep in an annex: a plan to ask companies to report AI-related energy consumption under a common standard. But even that’s not expected until late next year – while Big Tech’s servers, and the coal plants feeding them, keep burning.
Alexander Fanta
Frontex welcome’s Haftar’s Libyan officials
For the first time ever, officials from eastern Libya, under the control of General Haftar, alongside delegates from western Libya, will visit the European border agency Frontex in Warsaw before heading to Brussels to meet with EU representatives.
The European Commission confirmed the visit on Friday after the Italian investigative newsroom IRPI Media reported about it. It follows Libya’s recent announcement that its authorities plan to carry out voluntary repatriations from detention centres under their control.
Repatriations have also been the focus of recent meetings held by the EU ambassador to Libya, Nicola Orlando. European representatives are pushing for a new repatriation system, which could see Frontex play a more direct role.
IRPI Media
OUR LATEST INVESTIGATIONS
This is the warning Big Alcohol wants to keep off your bottles of beer
What appears on a pack of cigarettes should now also appear on a bottle of beer: a warning that alcohol causes cancer. But for Heineken, this was unacceptable. The brewer giant did everything possible to stop Irish plans for red warning labels.
Documents obtained by FTM reveal how the beer company used scientists to sow doubt and exerted pressure on governments through lobby groups. Even now, many people do not know that alcohol causes cancer, and Heineken wants to keep it that way…
Europeans’ health data sold to U.S. firm run by ex-Israeli spies
“All of the red flags should have been raised during this acquisition”, a former intelligence officer warned, referring to the sale of Dutch company Zivver. Used by hospitals, courts and immigration services across the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, the deal has placed highly sensitive European data in the hands of an Israel-linked American firm.
In June 2025, Zivver was acquired by a U.S. company led by former Israeli intelligence officers, prompting concerns over data security and oversight. Follow the Money can also reveal that Zivver’s supposedly fully encrypted system isn’t as airtight as claimed, with evidence showing the company can temporarily view messages before they are encrypted.
Podcast | European money is fueling the global spyware industry
🔍 A stranger reading your messages, tracking your movements, scrolling through your photos – that’s what spyware can do, often without you even knowing. Marketed as a tool to fight terrorism and crime, it’s also being used to silence journalists, activists, and political opponents.
In our latest episode, Greek journalist Vas Panagiotopoulos reveals how the EU and national governments are funnelling public funds to companies behind this powerful surveillance technology – firms accused of aiding authoritarian regimes while cashing in on European taxpayer money.