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Transparency

Independence and integrity are essential to the credibility of a think tank that acts as a public good.

RESEARCH INTEGRITY

Bruegel’s statement on research integrity, adopted by the board in May 2006, can be found here. The statement sets out rules for the avoidance of political, national or commercial conflicts of interest which could harm the integrity of Bruegel’s research. Bruegel researchers and senior staff are contractually bound to abide by this statement when they join Bruegel.

, an independent NGO, has awarded Bruegel five stars out of five for transparency in the past, recognising its openness about financing and governance.

INDEPENDENT EVALUATION

Bruegel’s work is evaluated every three years by an independent committee. Bruegel’s members appoint this task force, balancing background and experience with the aim of reviewing all of Bruegel’s output and how well it has fulfilled its mission.

The committee is free to determine for itself the most effective way of evaluating Bruegel’s work and it is assisted in the task by the Scientific Council who give the committee an assessment of the scientific quality of Bruegel’s output.

Bruegel has undergone this independent evaluation exercise in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019. The reports can be downloaded below:

DECLARATION OF OUTSIDE INTERESTS

Bruegel’s scholars and managers also make an annual declaration of outside interests. These declarations are made public and are available on the profile page of each individual. These interests are not just financial: it is important for Bruegel’s stakeholders and the public to be aware of other potential influences on a scholar’s work. These public declarations are extensive in the areas they cover and represent a high standard in public transparency for think tanks.

TRANSPARENT FUNDING

Bruegel’s commitment to transparency means that we publish detailed financial statements every year in our Annual Report. Our accounts are independently audited. We detail from where every cent of the budget comes, and we report outgoings along nine spending lines. The financial statements clearly state what every contributor paid in any one year, a level of transparency that is rare in our sector. State members of Bruegel also have the right to audit Bruegel at any time.

The great majority of Bruegel‘s income is composed of annual subscriptions from its members, which are contributions to core funding, rather than to individual projects or research areas. All corporate members contribute the same amount, i.e. €50,000 per year. State membership contributions depend on the size of the country and its economy.

In total, subscription funding is balanced between public and private sector contributions, and no single member contributes more than 5% of the yearly budget, depending on the budget year. A diversified funding base helps to buttress Bruegel’s independence.

Bruegel is also registered in the joint  of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

GENDER EQUALITY PLAN

Bruegel values and promotes gender balance and currently (September 2021) has a gender balanced leadership at the management and board level. Being an organisation striving for high quality and independence, we value diversity of views at our events and in our research. Bruegel’s management adopted this Gender Equality Plan (GEP), with the purpose of taking stock of gender balance at Bruegel and providing guidance and practical steps on future commitments. It is made available internally, for all staff members involved in the planning, steering, and monitoring of activities at Bruegel and externally, on Bruegel’s website. More on Bruegel’s Gender Equality Plan

PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy tells you how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal data when you interact with us. It covers our processing of your personal data that we gather when you are accessing or using our websites or services (such as our events and newsletters) or when you contact us.