Jack Schickler

Managing editor at Contexte, Brussels. Previously Euronews, CoinDesk, MLex. This account is largely inactive, but I have same handle on BlueSky

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

@CaminoMortera @evanoconnell They are redoing the Schuman Roundabout though! (largely pedestrianising)

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

@TI_EU In total, around 30% of MEPs have side jobs, collectively earning over €6m a year

Some lawmakers take thousands a month from agriculture/car sectors while also seeking to influence those areas of policy

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

After Qatargate, MEPs are permitted to have side jobs, but must declare them, & can’t work as lobbyists

But @TI_EU thinks there’s a blurring of public and private interests, and they have a point

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Full story on @euronews https://t.co/r0ETm0RSRc

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Full story by @MaredGwyn and me here: https://t.co/hTMjUz1QbG

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

NEW: Ex-EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and his wife drew attention from money laundering authorities when they splurged a combined €50,000 on lottery tickets in a single year — often buying them from the same store

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Reynders has denied accusations of criminal behaviour and says funds came from his private estate. But this remarkable chart shows how his alleged spending stuck out like a sore thumb.

[Mared Gwyn @MaredGwyn]

NEW: 🇧🇪Lottery reveals details about Reynders' alleged scheme in doc seen by @jackschickler & myself

Large amount of e-ticket sales detected in 1 store in 2021 & traced to 2 accounts believed to be linked to Reynders. Prosecutor was first notified in 2022
https://t.co/4kEl9kO6Qu

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

SCOOP: @EU_Commission has written to Hungary saying (now overdue) fiscal plans are based on sloppy data.

Part of a pattern of worsening EU-Hungary relations.

chapeau @EleonoraVasques https://t.co/TrryfuFYLJ

[Jorge Liboreiro @JorgeLiboreiro]

Awkward coincidence: earlier this year, the EU approved a new law to combat money laundering that included an explicit carveout for national lotteries – the exact method for which Didier Reynders is under suspicion.

@jackschickler has the story.
https://t.co/WLmgUBn1Fa

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Full details on @euronews: https://t.co/laJETVXtWF

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Ursula von der Leyen today won a second term as President of @EU_Commission today.

Though her victory was widely expected, the vote was actually pretty close. (Thread)

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Look by country and it's pretty wild.

In France, an EU founder member, just 22% of MEPs support her.

22%!

(Yes, I know the EU doesn't have an electoral college, but work with me here)

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Barcelona's Airbnb ban is under scrutiny for breaching EU law

Me for @euronews: https://t.co/5dkpe10HQ6

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

@fwred - Why would a bank want to post bonds at the ECB?
- Security

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Full story here: https://t.co/3hmeZ1FUiN

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

Eye opening bit in the European Commission's just-released economic forecasts. Apple's €13bn retrospective tax bill sends Ireland to a remarkable 4.4% budget *surplus*

https://t.co/nQcQpWXebz

[Jack Schickler @jackschickler]

By my reckoning if correct, it's the highest budget surplus *any* EU government has recorded in any year since at least 2012