Hans van Scharen (Brussels) is a former freelance journalist.
He has written for De Standaard and Knack, among others, as well as for the Dutch weeklies De Groene Amsterdammer and Contrast, and the monthly magazine Internationale Samenwerking. He graduated from the School for Journalism and Information in Utrecht in late 1993. A few months later, he joined the domestic editorial team at De Morgen, covering a wide range of topics until September 1998. He then worked for six months on the economics desk of the daily newspaper Trouw, followed by a year and a half at the monthly development cooperation magazine OnzeWereld. In June 1997, he published the first edition of the book De cannabisconnectie with Houtekiet publishers (fourth edition, 2001).
From 2009 until June 2019, he was a parliamentary assistant to MEP Bart Staes. He is also a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory.
