David Bremmer

Economy and Political Reporter, National Daily Algemeen Dagblad,

I’m working as a economy and political reporter at national daily Algemeen Dagblad since 2007. My background is Law however. I studied Civil and Business Law at Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands (graduation in 2000). While studying I spent a semester at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, California, taking classes in (ao) International Business Transactions, where I also encountered EU Law from a US perspective.

In the end my passion for journalism won: Always been a news junkie, I also liked writing, especially about affairs that mattered to a larger audience (instead of exploring article X of section Y of statute Z). After my graduation I did a postgraduate journalism course at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Included was an internship at popular newspaper De Telegraaf. After working a few years for Mare, the weekly newsmagazine of Leiden University, I landed a job at Algemeen Dagblad (2007).

Topics: I’m writing a lot about EU and international trade (TTIP, CETA, TPP). But I also cover topics like (clean) energy, technology and telecom. Before 2014 I worked a few years as a political reporter in The Hague where I was responsible for the State Departments of Economic Affairs and the Treasury.

Experience with the EU: although I’ve never been stationed in Brussels (with Frans Boogaard as our longtime correspondent we already have Mr EU working for us :-)) I can’t consider myself a complete stranger to the European project. In fact I’m the son of a former Member of the European Parliament, although my father’s term was very short. As a reporter (and as a student as well) I visited Brussels and the EU Institutions many times, I have covered a few top summits and also interviewed some European commissioners (Mälmstrom, Vestager, Kroes).

Last year the US government invited me and a group of European business journalists for a TTIP-trip to Brussels, Washington and Boston. We spoke with federal government officials, interest groups, scholars, lobbyists, labor unions, companies (also including TTIP opponents, though moderate).

About Algemeen Dagblad:

Algemeen Dagblad (or simply ‘AD’) has long been the second largest daily newspaper in the Netherlands. In the last few years we have grown considerably and become the flagship of a newsgroup with seven large regional newspapers. As a result we are the number 1 now. Online we are also one of the main news sites. Although Algemeen Dagblad is a popular daily (a lot of sports, lifestyle, entertainment) we are politically neutral and very balanced in our reporting. We are neither right wing nor left wing, also we don’t have any religious affiliation historically.

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