Hi Max, happy to have a coffee one day, but
1) The link in Playbook is behind a paywall, so the majority of your readers will never find out.
2) The mention in your story is not clear enough.
3) Building on each other's reporting suggests you add something new
Our Wednesday newsletter with @alistairkeepe.bsky.social www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...
Dear @politico.eu @gabrielgavin.bsky.social @maxgriera.bsky.social if you copy @ftm.eu reporting, it'd be nice to mention the original source
Deze Israëlische zakenman verdiende zo’n miljard met omkoping via Nederland.
Van het OM mag hij 99,97% houden.
www.ftm.nl/artikelen/is...
A year ago, the Huaweigate scandal rocked Brussels.
But the prosecution of MEPs allegedly involved has hit a few roadblocks - including an embarrassing mistake by Belgian authorities:
www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...
Denk niet dat iemand ooit beweerd heeft dat hij een 4D schaker was 😅 (in tegenstelling tot wat misschien gedacht werd over Putin). Maar het blijft verbazen
An alarming and telling admission by German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who seems to be going along with the Trump administration's open disregard of international law. www.euractiv.com/news/merz-ac...
Big corporations. Big influence.
An EU law meant to hold corporations accountable for human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chains (CS3D) has been heavily stripped back after pressure from a secret U.S. lobbying group of 11 multinationals, including ExxonMobil and Honeywell.
🔥 The Belgian Competition Authority has opened an own-initiative investigation into Google's online advertising practices www.bma-abc.be/sites/defaul...
⚖️ In this week’s Crime & Corruption newsletter:
- The European Parliament quietly rethinks its internal spending rules
- Heated fallout from the latest Qatargate ruling
- Raids over a €900m Brussels property deal, plus fresh charges in the Didier Reynders probe
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘀
He defended the rule of law as EU Justice Commissioner. Days after leaving office, Didier Reynders’ home was raided in a money-laundering probe.
What happened? Journalist @simonvandorpe.bsky.social unpacks the story. ⚖️
🔥 In this morning's crime and corruption newsletter: some heated reactions following last week's judgement in the #Qatargate investigation:
www.ftm.eu/articles/new...
This would make sense, especially considering the European Commission's increasingly outspoken political profile.
After years reporting on Europe’s dependence on Big Tech, we’re making a vital shift: phasing out U.S. tech and moving to European alternatives. With rising geopolitical tensions and risks tied to foreign cloud infrastructure, this is about protecting our journalism, security, and independence.
Shilling for Trump in Brussels: A document we obtained shows how Tony Blair and his institute lobbied behind closed doors for the EU to join Trump's "Board of Peace" and put €€€ behind US- and Israeli-led Gaza reconstruction efforts.
Published with Democracy for Sale, ht @lighthousereports.com
Today in @ftm.eu's crime and corruption newsletter:
⚖️ One of the EU's largest contractors has challenged its exclusion from EU tenders in court.
⚖️ NATO's procurement agency has entered 2026 under the shadow of a new corruption investigation.
⚖️ Plenty of news updates
www.ftm.eu/articles/new...
Honderden miljoenen aan EU-geld werden toevertrouwd aan IBF International Consulting. Nu wordt het adviesbureau verdacht van corruptie en witwassen. De Europese Commissie trok de stekker eruit, partners stappen op en de alarmbellen luiden.
Maar hoe kon het zo ver komen?
www.ftm.nl/artikelen/eu...
Read the full story for free today on Follow the Money EU (3/3)
www.ftm.eu/articles/eu-...
With @emmaduchatinier.bsky.social and @irpimedia.eu
This move is paralyzing one of the EU's key framework contracts for external action and casts uncertainty on IBF's future, as the company remains under criminal investigation by European prosecutors. (2/3)
⚡ The European Commission has once again suspended IBF International Consulting from bidding on new EU tenders for two years due to alleged "grave professional misconduct." IBF has challenged the decision before the EU General Court. (1/3)
Sad to say, but I would no longer be surprised if he did
Follow the Money want to build a strong European edition that is read, trusted, and supported across Europe.
JOB ALERT: As Growth & Partnerships Manager at @ftm.eu, you will strengthen the business foundations that sustain our European journalism.
Half an hour later…
Who needs corruption indices when you can just read who signed up for Trump's peace board 🤷♂️
Telegram’s battle with European regulators could force it to hire thousands of content moderators to tackle illegal content. Documents obtained by Follow the Money show how Telegram is trying to fend off tougher oversight from Brussels.
www.ftm.eu/articles/tel...
⚖️ Our first Crime & Corruption newsletter of 2026 is anything but quiet. This week:
Trump’s capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro puts Europe in a bind over the rule of law; AI dominates talks at the UN anti-corruption conference in Doha; and Europe watches as Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial begins.
🪫 Fancy becoming a battery expert in a few clicks?
InnoEnergy used EU taxpayer money to boast claims it trained over 100,000 people.
But FTM found flawed figures, counting certificates not people, including failed or incomplete courses, and even children playing an educational Minecraft game.
A key EU project meant to wean Europe off Russian gas has been derailed. So has the corruption probe into it, exposing failures in Bulgaria and at EU level.
At the heart of the case are corruption allegations, a sudden death, a smear campaign against the prosecutor, and her suspension.
Euroclear! I used to work there at a time it was still an anonymous layer of the financial architecture
