Between 2020 and 2023, Germany spent €860m subsidising the purchase of Teslas — a scheme that helped unlock Berlin’s share of the EU’s Covid recovery fund, according to internal documents obtained by EUobserver. Now, Elon Musk’s Berlin gigafactory is also receiving more than €71m in state aid.
Israel has damaged at least €150m of European taxpayer-funded structures in Gaza and the West Bank, but not paid back one euro, according to an EUobserver investigation compiling data from the EU and third-party aid groups, amid Brussels’ wall of silence.
What began as a lucrative OnlyFans “agency” promoted by one of the Czech Republic’s biggest influencers is now at the centre of a human‑trafficking case that could send him and his associates to prison for up to 12 years and shake the country’s online creator economy.
The EU restricts biometric surveillance at home – but its landmark AI Act does nothing to prevent European companies from exporting the same technology abroad.
First launched in late 2022, the so-called High Level Network for Returns (HLNR) used the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel as a justification to enforce the exchange of data of individuals with a deportation order and flagged as “potential terrorists”.
When Russian forces occupy a Ukrainian town, schools are often targeted first. An investigation into hundreds of Telegram posts from Russian propaganda channels operating in occupied Ukraine since 2022 reveals a systematic campaign to militarise and indoctrinate children through schools.
A French banker inside Euroclear, who flew to Russia 155 times for “private” reasons, allegedly tried to connect the company’s CEO, Valérie Urbain, with Russian spies and threatened her when she declined, according to an investigation by EUobserver, Humo, De Morgen, and Dossier Center.
Thousands of landfills across Europe lie in flood-risk zones, areas which could endanger drinking water or sensitive conservation sites, Investigate Europe and Watershed Investigations can reveal in the largest landfill mapping exercise ever undertaken across the continent.
The €1.5bn “Enjoy, it’s from Europe” scheme — largely funded by the Common Agricultural Policy — emphasises the “authenticity, safety, sustainability and quality” of EU-farmed food and drinks. A new investigation, however, finds that the sustainability claims of the advertised produce are often misleading or false.
At the UK’s Brook House, migrants describe being trapped in a system driven by profit rather than policy — a place where private companies earn more the longer people are kept in limbo, a new investigation reveals.
Every day, Russian tankers carry billions of dollars’ worth of oil across the Baltic Sea. Despite sweeping Western sanctions, this trade continues to fuel the Kremlin’s war machine. An investigation by LRT, 15min, Eesti Ekspress, and Nekā personīga reveals how a network of companies in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia is helping to keep Moscow’s ‘shadow fleet’ running.
The Dutch asylum system has been in crisis mode for years. An international investigation by Dutch investigative journalism collective Spit, together with Altreconomia in Italy, scrutinised the enormous amounts of public funds in Europe disappearing into asylum reception and detention. Who benefits from the cash flow generated by the asylum crisis?
The European Investment Fund backed Israeli spyware firm Paragon Solutions in 2020 through a local venture fund, according to a new investigation by Belgian investigative site Apache. Founded a year earlier by former Israeli PM Ehud Barak and an Israeli ex-intelligence chief, Paragon’s spyware has been used against activists in multiple countries, including Italy.
Migrants were detained in Albanian centres under an Italy-Albania deal, managed by the Medihospes cooperative on a €133m contract, but legal, operational, and ethical issues persist, an investigation reveals.
Every year, Europe loses 1,500km² to construction. Green spaces that once sheltered wildlife, supplied food and removed carbon from the atmosphere at an alarming rate, a new investigation reveals.
A suspected scam network operating out of Serbia duped an estimated 70,000 people worldwide into making bogus investments, profiting €250m in the process. The transnational scheme involved a former Premier League team sponsor and a convicted money launderer, Investigate Europe and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network can reveal, in the first part of our Scam Europe series.
Here’s a reminder of some of the investigations you may have missed so far this year — and why they still matter.
A Boeing 747 cargo plane that flies from Belgium in and out of Israel’s wartime airspace is carrying mostly fish, not weapons, the Israeli airline says, while no one in Belgium cares to check.
A European subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries is currently involved in 15 EU defence projects, including a multi-million euro drone development programme co-funded by European governments.
An investigation into blacklisted online casinos has been the target of bogus infringement claims sent to Google by unnamed actors. MEPs are asking for journalistic work to be better protected and for a Europe-wide crackdown on unlicensed gambling.