Supported projects

Vladimir Putin's Russia increasingly poses a security risk to Europe as it has become more and more aggressive in recent years, especially since the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Donbas. Russia has also committed assassinations on European soil, including the attempted assassination of the Skripals and the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. Most recently a Russian diplomat was suspected of bringing ricin to Prague to poison the mayor.

KOSOVO - In Kosovo a well organized trafficking network has started a big wave of minors who leave for Italy. Thanks to the Zampa law, which was introduced in 2017, they can get licenses to study or to work, if they report themselves at the Italian immigration services. The law was meant to decrease the number of missing unaccompanied migrant children, but it helps human smuggling in hand. "It's a company of 100.000 euros a month, but no one seems to care", says the prosecutor in Triëste.

There is very little transparency in the private security sector. Questions often remain unanswered because the contracts are withheld on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. This lack of information means it is hard if not impossible to speak truth to powerful private security multinationals. In an age where political leaders seem obsessed with austerity measures, it should come as no surprise that they will not hold these companies accountable. What is it that we, the people, can do? Should private companies derive a profit off war and conflicts?

This investigation seeks to uncover the state of facial recognition technology in Europe. The journalists obtained leaked internal European Union documents that reveal law enforcement is lobbying to create a network of national police facial recognition databases. 

Climate change could leave you homeless overnight – right here, in Europe. Flash floods, mudslides and wildfires triggered by heatwaves are among the extreme weather events becoming increasingly common thanks to our changing climate.

MALTA - The model for the privatisation of Malta’s public hospitals negotiated by now disgraced Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, with the approval of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, was exported to Balkan States with weak democratic structures that enable large-scale corruption.

GEORGIA - Each year in December, 80 million Christmas trees are sold across Europe. The majority of these, 45 million, are Nordmann firs who have their origins in the Caucasus region. 80 % of the Nordmann trees cultivated in Europe come from seeds harvested in Western Georgia.  

KIEV - In the course of the moratorium on forest felling in Ukraine, bypassing not only national legislation but also EU regulations and certifications, Ukrainian timber is cut and harvested at such a rate that over four years its exports to the EU countries increased by 75%, exceeding the mark in a billion Euro in 2017.

DILOVASI - The Toxic Valley project looks into the environmental consequences of industrialisation in Turkey, and reveals a pattern of chemical dumping and polluting that has led to a widespread health crisis in the Kocaeli region, the most heavily industrialised area of the country.

BUCHAREST - The need of Italian mafia networks to carry out vast money-laundering operations took them to Romania and Bulgaria. They set up companies that not only succeeded in flying under the radar but also won government contracts.