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Wednesday, October 28 • 13:00 - 14:15
The secrets of the Council projects - the case of tax transparency

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When large investigations like LuxLeaks about tax avoidance hit the front pages, political promises are given galore. So the Commission wrote a draft law about public country by country reporting on taxes. And then...  the work in the Investigate Europe team started. A long-term research project, the Secrets of the Council investigation deals with the hidden procedures of law making in the European Union's main legislative body: the council of ministers. The first investigation within the project focuses on the draft EU tax transparency law, which was blocked in the council last year. The investigation shows that some of the blocking EU governments were acting without the knowledge or support from their national parliaments. It also shows that the EU governments that hold the rotating presidency and should act as an honest broker, can abuse its agenda-setting power to block laws. Sigrid Melchior and Harald Schumann, both experienced journalists with a particular knowledge of covering European affairs, will describe how they get closer to the opaque decision making of the Council by following one topic of public interest.


Moderators
avatar for Brigitte Alfter

Brigitte Alfter

Director, Arena for Journalism in Europe
Brigitte Alfter ist eine deutsch-dänische Journalistin, Geschäftsführerin für Redaktionelles bei Arena for Journalism in Europe und Dozentin Journalismus an der Universität Göteborg. Nach Jahren als Journalistin auf fallen Niveaus vom Lokaljournalismus bis zur EU-Korrespondentin... Read More →

Speakers
avatar for Sigrid Melchior

Sigrid Melchior

freelance journalist
Swedish journalist based in Brussels since forever it feels like. Reports on EU and European affairs, teaches EU journalism, does investigations with the European network http://investigate-europe.eu and has a gossipy bi-weekly podcast: https://brysselbubblan.libsyn.com... Read More →
avatar for Harald Schumann

Harald Schumann

Journalist, Investigate Europe
Journalist since 1983 with- „tageszeitung“ (2 years),- „Der Spiegel“ (18 years) -- "Tagesspiegel" (since 2004) and Investigate Europe (since 2016)My main interest is to help to overcome the narrow minded national perspective in reporting about European affairs and issues... Read More →


Wednesday October 28, 2020 13:00 - 14:15 CET