The Dutch shareholders’ lobby group VEB is launching an English-language Europe-wide platform as it looks to grow into a European investors’ organisation.

The European Investors platform is targeting private investors of all types throughout Europe, VEB director Paul Koster said in an interview with the Financieele Dagblad.

‘We are targeting investors in Germany, France and Spain first. These are big countries,’ he told the FD. The big law firms are currently not interested in private investors and only target professionals, he said.

An example of a pan-European campaign is Volkswagen. The VEB is trying to claim damages on behalf of private investors who have been affected by the emissions scandal and its impact on share prices. The campaign will have extra weight if investors from other countries are involved, he said.

The VEB, which has 45,000 members, is also involved in discussions on European regulations which have an impact on investors.