Europe's growing oligarch problem comes under scrutiny

The European Commission must ramp up its fight against "oligarch structures" in EU countries, lawmakers said on Thursday (10 February).

In a report, lawmakers in the parliament's budget control committee said oligarchs and their networks act like states within states.

Oligarchic groups rule in their own interests without regard for democracy, and their influence had "reached an unprecedented magnitude in the past several years" in the EU, the report said.

The move by the ...