An exclusive briefing, secrecy and surveillance
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Welcome to the biweekly newsletter from Follow the Money’s EU desk!?
Read the latest news about our investigations into the European Union and get tips for further reading, viewing, and listening.
In this edition:
Who’s invited to the Commission’s most exclusive press briefing?
Have you ever wondered why certain media outlets sound particularly well-informed before EU summits? Perhaps it's about having the right kind of invitation.
Ahead of European Council meetings of EU leaders, the Commission hosts press briefings for hand-picked journalists - held by? Bj?rn Seibert, chief of staff to Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.?
Information is given out “on background”, meaning it can not be attributed to the Commission. But sure enough, it finds its way into the press coverage and often shapes stories.
In short, the briefings provide an excellent opportunity for the Commission to spin journalists.
So, who gets an invitation? The Commission recently released a list of media that attended a briefing in March after Follow the Money made a freedom of information request. 64 journalists were invited, representing outlets from every EU member state, as well as a few international media. The list is heavily skewed towards the traditional media establishment, including heavy-hitters such as the New York Times, Politico and the Financial Times, and national broadsheets such as Corriere della Serra, Le Monde or De Volkskrant. (Follow the Money wasn’t invited.)
“There are no fixed criteria but the aim is to invite journalists from different countries, loosely correlated to the size of the country / press corps in Brussels”, Commission chief spokesperson Eric Mamer told FTM. Invitees are rotated frequently, but who is chosen is highly selective. “We prioritise media that regularly report on EUCOs, have a wide reach and are relevant to the formation of public opinion on this topic in and outside the EU”, Mamer said.
But why not just invite all journalists, and brief everyone equally? Mamer says that the Commission “consider[s] this is the right size for what is ultimately an ‘in-person’ informal conversation so that a sufficient proportion of attendees get to ask a question.” If you’re invited, that is.
Alexander Fanta
Other news stories
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European Ombudsman blasts Commission secrecy?
The European Ombudsman has blasted the Commission for its secrecy around its own internal legal advice that guides whether documents can be released to the public.
Typically, when a Commission official needs help answering an access request, they will consult a collection of case law produced by the Commission's legal service. If, for instance, they are dealing with a request that requires weighing transparency requirements with the privacy of individuals, Commission officials can rely on a detailed summary of the relevant case law that "flags the critical points case handlers need to look at", in the words of the Commission.
However, the Commission is afraid of making its case law collection public for fear of being bound by its own interpretations. The Commission’s Secretary General Ilze Juhansone rejected Follow the Money’s request for the case law summary earlier this year.?
Juhansone claimed that publication would hurt the Commission’s legal position in ongoing court proceedings in access to documents cases, “as it would risk putting the institution in the difficult position in which its legal service might be forced to defend a position before the Court which was not necessarily the same as the position which it had argued for internally.”
Following our complaint, European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly gave short shrift to the Commission's arguments. In her decision, the Ombudsman said she was not convinced that the document contained sensitive legal advice worthy of protection. “Regrettably, in this case, the Commission missed a chance to live up to its role as a standard setter in the area of transparency and to provide a public service to citizens."
Alexander Fanta
In the news..
Hungary’s anti-child porn proposal sparks surveillance concerns
Software designed to fight the spread of child sexual abuse will be put forward in an adjusted form next week by the Hungarian presidency. The law is meant to introduce obligations for online services such as Instagram and TikTok to scan posts and messages for child abuse material, and report images to the authorities. This has triggered warnings by digital rights NGOs that the law could lead to mass surveillance and undermine encrypted messaging. In the past year, Follow the Money revealed the hidden interests behind the push to scan private messages. Read the stories about the lobby and the flaws.
Setback for Qatargate investigators
The Belgian investigation into the Qatargate corruption scandal is facing further delays: a Brussels court ruled last week that the country’s intelligence oversight committee must rule on the legality of the investigation.
Reminder: Several (ex-) MEPs, including former Vice-President Eva Kaili, are suspected of having accepted bribes from Qatar and Morocco to serve the interests of those countries in the EU institutions in Brussels. The investigation began with Belgium’s state security service, which shadowed the suspects and installed cameras and wiretaps in their homes, before prosecutors took over.
One of the questions that the oversight committee must now answer is whether the investigators can make use of the evidence collected by the intelligence agency. After all, the defence cannot examine the details of a classified investigation, news agency Belga reported.
Simon Van Dorpe