A total of 34 European universities remain involved in 38 Horizon Europe research projects with Israeli entities linked to defence or dual-use technology – despite pledges to suspend such ties, according to a new investigation by Investigate Europe.
An investigation by Investigate Europe reveals how Israeli academic organisations and legal allies are fighting to keep research ties with European universities alive — putting human rights, academic freedom and Israel’s future in Horizon Europe at the centre of a growing legal and political battle.
Leaked legal opinions and internal files reveal how EU Commission negotiators bypassed member states, ignored red flags on human rights, and kept talking to Israeli officials long after being told a 2022 draft deal for the exchange of personal data between Europol and Israel broke EU and international law.
Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the EU had a strange career path, a spy-linked uncle, spy friends, and allegedly played a role in pre-Brexit dirty tricks in the UK.
The little-known Irara NGO was the largest non-state recipient of Frontex funding last year, receiving some €39m in 2025. The NGO is headed by UK security veterans and operates in 36 countries, including Afghanistan.
From Delhi to Jaipur, India is rolling out facial-recognition technology to monitor millions of its citizens. Investigate Europe has found that behind much of the software is Spanish company Herta Security – but critics argue the government promise of public safety is not the main aim.
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.
As Luxembourg’s elite judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union quietly juggle share portfolios and politically-sensitive cases, critics warn their ties (often undisclosed) to Big Pharma, banks and Big Tech raise concerns over possible conflicts of interest and transparency.
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.
A “strictly confidential”, but leaked, EU legal memo from 2017 said Europe was entitled to freeze Israel science grants and free-trade perks over its West Bank aggression. “What was then a legitimate option, today is a legal obligation,” an Italian expert said.
Following the Hungarian election, hyper-wealthy circles around outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán are moving assets out of the country, to places such as Dubai, the US and Uruguay.
Released Jeffrey Epstein files expose how associate Jean-Luc Brunel used Czech and Slovak modelling agencies to recruit and traffic underage girls. Brunel leveraged his industry prestige to lure victims into Epstein’s network, often using professional contracts as legal cover. He ultimately died by suicide in a Paris prison in 2022.
Microsoft and DigitalEurope, a lobby group whose members include Amazon, Google and Meta, secured a secrecy provision in EU law to block public access to critical information on data centres’ environmental impact, Investigate Europe can reveal.
Legal experts call it undemocratic; the official watchdog calls it a failure of integrity. After a wave of farm protests rocked the continent, Brussels gutted its green protections at record speed, leaving a permanent scar on European law. This investigation goes inside the closed-door meetings and exclusive interviews to reveal who really sat at the table to rewrite the rules of Europe’s most expensive policy.
The EU restricts biometric surveillance at home – but its landmark AI Act does nothing to prevent European companies from exporting the same technology abroad.
Plastic products in the EU could soon be labelled “recycled” — even when they contain barely any recycled material. A new definition backed by most member states allows plastics with as little as 2.5 percent waste-derived content. Critics warn that the rule relies on accounting tricks that may mask fossil-based plastic production.
The EU’s key water law is under pressure amid intensified lobbying by the mining industry. DeSmog analysis shows sector meetings with EU officials tripled in the year before the European Commission pledged to “review and revise” the Water Framework Directive.
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 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.