EU Seminar: Who is Watching Brussels? Why the EU deserves better watchdogs
- Date
- Friday 18 October 2024
- Time
- Address
- Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 002
About the Event
Eurosceptics love to complain about the wastefulness of the European bureaucratic machinery, its lack of transparency and democratic accountability. Needless to say, a string of recent scandals from Brussels, from Qatargate to the secrecy around COVID-19 vaccine purchases only strengthens the arguments of those who claim it is time to wrestle the power back from ‘Europe’ and bring it back to the national capitals. In her recent book ‘Who’s watching the EU?’ Lise Witteman, a long-time investigative journalist, offers a frank, incisive analysis of the existing European accountability mechanisms and why they failed to prevent these scandals. Join us for a discussion of Lise’s work to learn how a transnational network of award-winning investigative journalists is fighting the European accountability crisis – and what you as a citizen can do about it.
About the Speaker
Lise Witteman leads the EU desk of the investigative platform Follow the Money. In 2021 she published her first book about the Dutch industrial lobby in Brussels. She's co-founder of the Brussels-based comedy show The Schuman Show. You can find out more about the book ‘Who’s watching Brussels?’ here (also available in Dutch).