In 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the EU Global Gateway in her State of the Union speech. She claimed it was the EU’s new flagship strategy, investing in infrastructure to counter the influence of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. One year later, a new Eurodad and Counter Balance report reveals that the Global Gateway lacks a clear development mandate.

Counter Balance has launched a report that critically analyses a little-known part of the European Investment Bank (EIB)’s operations: its use of private equity funds.

Providing an in-depth analysis of two major infrastructure projects in the Veneto region in Italy, Re:Common and Counter Balance's report focuses on the corruption and state capture issues related to them. Both the Passante di Mestre and the Mose projects have become enmeshed in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Italian history, leading to the arrests of politicians, businessmen and public officials. We refer here to this scandal of systemic corruption as the “Veneto system”.