Welcome to Bureau Brussels – your weekly deep dive into the power plays, backroom deals, and expert investigations shaping life for over 450 million EU citizens. 

This week: 

• NATO’s €1bn fund splurges on luxury offices and five-star meetings

• Fresh corruption scandal hits the EU’s foreign service

• Revolving-door loophole sends ex-MEP aides straight into lobbying

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Story of the week

Millions in overheads and five-star comfort at the NATO Innovation Fund

The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) is burning through millions in overheads while creating potential financial liability for all 24 participating member states due to excessive political interference in fund management.

Operating through ambiguous structures and mostly out of  Britain, the €1 billion public fund spent €1.2 million on premium office space in Amsterdam and London in its first year, plus repeated meetings in five-star hotels. Despite making just 23 investments (only 10 are in companies) since 2023, the fund employs 18 board members, four partners and six associates – a structure atypical in venture capital, where teams are typically lean.

These problems mirror those identified in academic research on the CIA’s venture capital experiment In-Q-Tel, on which the NIF was modelled. Researchers found that government involvement in VC creates “foreign entanglements” and exposes public bodies to private-sector disputes.

Instead of resolving conflicts of interest, the fund has worsened them. Filings at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce show that, following criticism over “dual roles”, supervisors were simply appointed as directors as well. Rather than separating oversight and management, the same people now govern and supervise the fund.

Dr. Francesca Grandi of Transparency International calls these moves “cosmetic rather than corrective”, warning they are “normalising conflicts of interest”. She questions why NATO tolerates such opacity: “It would not meet NATO’s own integrity standards, so why is it tolerated for a private entity bearing NATO’s name?”

Internal documents describe the fund as “heavily divided”, with “strong personal preferences” clashing with strategic objectives. The entire executive team has resigned except one partner, underscoring instability.

Klaus Hommels resigned after FTM and Sifted reported he used his NIF role to attract investors to his private fund. The NIF later gave him an informal advisory role, preserving access without accountability.

Despite internal chaos, the NIF claims it is “on track” and even signalled last summer it may seek additional public funding. We sent questions but none of these were answered. Instead, the NIF sent sector-wide market reports (taking credits for broader industry trends) while touting its investment in Isar Aerospace as a unicorn success story, despite joining in after the company had already secured €400 million in prior funding.  

Dieuwertje Kuijpers

Other news from the EU bubble

Brussels in need of serious soul-searching on corruption

Late on Tuesday, EU negotiators agreed on new, harmonised rules to combat corruption across the bloc. 

But the very same day brought a much less flattering headline: a new shocking corruption scandal at the heart of the EU’s foreign service and elite school in Bruges. 

Once again, the probe is being led by Laura Kövesi’s European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which has exposed repeated alleged corruption at the heart of EU institutions. Verdicts are still pending, but clear risk patterns are emerging.

After Qatargate, attention turned to lobby transparency and NGO financing. Yet one elephant in the room remains unnoticed: the issue of political appointments. Federica Mogherini’s move from the EEAS to the College of Europe is a perfect example of what this common practice in Brussels can lead to. After years of doling out useful and less useful jobs to fellow party members (often as a reward for their loyal service), it is time for the Brussels elite to start some soul-searching.

Meanwhile, the EPPO’s deputy chief Andrés Ritter has been chosen to succeed Kövesi from next year. The German candidate was seen as one of continuity – but it remains to be seen how he will respond to political pressure in Brussels and the member states.

Simon Van Dorpe

Revolving door loophole for former MEP assistants still exists

This summer, Nicolò Bertoncello, a former assistant who helped shape EU financial legislation, walked straight into a lobbying job. The financial-sector lobby group Managed Funds Association announced his hire, and because Bertoncello had worked at the European Parliament for less than five years, he was not required to undergo any conflict of interest check for his new job. He is far from an isolated case.

We asked the MEPs responsible for these rules whether they would support any change to the five-year threshold. The answer was clear: there is little appetite for change beyond tightening how the existing rules are applied.

Only Renew Europe was “open to have a discussion”, but most groups supported the current system or failed to reply. S&D, the Parliament’s main centre-left group, said the rules for assistants were already strict enough.

Even among transparency NGOs, the issue struggles to gain political urgency. “While there is unquestionably room for improvement on revolving door rules for MEP assistants, the real scandal is that the rules governing these cases for the European Parliament’s actual lawmakers pale in comparison,” said Shari Hinds, policy officer at Transparency International EU.

Peter Teffer

Our latest investigations

FIFA orders European clubs to ignore sanctions on Russia

Pay Russian football club CSKA Moscow within 45 days, or face a transfer ban of 18 months. That was the ultimatum given to West Ham United two years ago by world football’s governing body FIFA. Udinese, FC Basel, and PSV were also pressured to make payments to Russian clubs, despite EU sanctions and blocked transactions.

This left several European clubs in a legal dilemma: paying could breach international sanctions, while refusing would trigger sporting penalties. All this comes as FIFA awards its Peace Prize today – with speculation swirling that Donald Trump could be the recipient.

Read the article

Dirty coal, clean books: Romanian energy giant suspected of dodging EU carbon tax

A state-owned Romanian coal plant burns some of Europe’s dirtiest fuel, linked to childhood asthma and even early death, yet it reported unusually low emissions just as EU carbon prices surged. The company may have avoided over €250 million in carbon costs.

As Brussels relies on company data to run its carbon market, experts warn that weak oversight could undermine the EU’s climate policy. If one of Europe’s biggest polluters can slip through the system, who else might be getting a free pass?

Read our full investigation

Podcast | Plenty of money in the world (but not for you)

Money shapes nearly every part of our lives, but few of us understand how it really works. In his upcoming book ‘Plenty of Money (But Not for You)’, journalist Thomas Bollen exposes the hidden machinery of money, and the power wielded by commercial banks. His research shows why real reform has stalled, and what it would take to regain control of the financial system.

Listen to the episode