Supported projects

European Investment Bank (EIB) is the largest multilateral borrower and lender in the world. It finances mainly large infrastructure projects, but also provides loans to small and medium enterprises. The EIB is an EU bank, but its ambitions reach far beyond its borders.

In an unprecedented EU-wide collaborative effort, the journalists from "The MEPs Project" located in every member state investigated how members of the European Parliament (MEPs) make use of the general expenses payments they receive every month. 

VALLETTA - The Mediterranean republic of Malta operates a tax system where companies pay the lowest tax on profits in the EU - only five per cent. Over the last three months, journalistic network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) dug into over 150,000 documents that show how international companies take advantage of this system, using Malta as a pirate base for tax avoidance in the EU.

To combat a wave of lone-wolf attacks Israel arrested hundreds of Palestinian youth suspected of being potential would-be-terrorists over the last 18 months. Many, if not most of the Palestinians arrested were singled out by a computerized predictive system developed by Israeli authorities. According to Israeli officials some of the persons were arrested on their way to commit an attack, but others may not have even fully decided to commit one by the time they were arrested.

How Russian Billionaire and Fashion TV investor paid near zero-tax on small loans operations in Europe and USA.

CARACAS - In "Puerta sin Colores", Marianne Cap, together with reporter Roel Nollet, goes to Venezuela. She worked there for a while in a home for boys with a difficult home situation. Four years later, she returns. 

Companies, trade unions, interest groups, NGOs, professional lobbyists: they all do their best to influence Belgian politics. How do they do that, and by what means? How far do they go? How do they conquer the 'Rue de la Loi' and win politicians over? These are questions that seldom get an answer. Until now. In 'Lobbying in the Wetstraat' Dominique Soenens looks at how lobbying works.

BELGIUM - Since 1999, companies are subject to appear before criminal courts for the crimes they commit. How often did this happen? When did it not happen? For what reason? What punishment did the public prosecutor ask for if the case did go to court? And what punishment did the judge pronounce?

Massimo Carminati, boss of an alleged mafia group in Rome, is said to have made millions of euros before his arrest in December 2014. But this financial treasure is nowhere to be found.

BELGIUM - For the first time in Belgium, political parties were evaluated for their transparency. The research is based on foreign experiences (in Spain and Chile) that are limited to observing the presence of information on the parties' sites. Civic platform WijBurgers, which is author of the Transparency Index of the political parties in 2016, has improved the methodology by using certain statistics available in Belgium (Political Database, Cumuleo).