Right-wing MEPs want restrictions on NGOs’ use of EU funds for lobbying. Critics warn this would benefit wealthy corporate interests.
STRASBOURG — Right-wing lawmakers in the European Parliament are calling for more transparency over how nongovernmental organizations are funded by the European Union, reviving a decade-old push to restrict NGOs from lobbying with EU taxpayer money.
In doing so, Europe’s conservatives are using their increased numbers in Parliament to push an agenda that their critics argue is an attempt to decide who is and isn’t entitled to influence Brussels policymaking.
Members of the European Parliament hosted a public debate on this topic during the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg Wednesday, following a joint request from the European People’s Party, the largest political group in Parliament, and the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the leader of the center-right EPP Manfred Weber said that he has “full respect [for] all the NGOs who are working on the European level,” adding that they are “extremely important partners to give us advice about the details of legislation. »
But, he added, “in this moment of time, the most important thing is to create transparency in the question of the NGO financing.”
Patryk Jaki, co-chair of the ECR group, said that “NGOs are now very important players especially in the Brussels bubble.” That’s why his group is seeking more transparency about how they’re being funded, he argued.
“I remember that for instance some NGOs, which were fighting for rule of law were engaged in the Qatargate scandal, so in the future, we should find a good solution for this,” Jaki said, referring to the NGOs Fight Impunity and No Peace Without Justice, whose former leaders have been named in the cash-for-influence scandal in 2022.
This push to revisit how EU money is spent by NGOs comes after the European Commission told green groups that the money they receive from the EU’s environmental funding program known as LIFE can no longer be used for advocacy and lobbying work.
That’s because the Commission issued new guidelines regarding what civil society groups can or cannot do using public funds, which state certain types of lobbying directly aimed at official EU institution members — like sending letters or organizing meetings — could “entail a reputational risk for the Union.”
With €5.4 billion of EU funding earmarked for the 2021-2027 period, the LIFE program is one of the EU’s largest pots. It mostly funds environmental projects like nature reserves or textile recycling centers, but €15.5 million of the fund goes out to NGOs in the form of operational grants every year, a mechanism originally designed to balance out the influence of corporate lobbying interests.
‘Gag order’
Civil society groups have pushed back against the Commission’s decision, arguing that the guidelines are effectively a “gag order” that favors corporate lobby groups and circumvents EU law.
Ariel Brunner, the regional director of the NGO BirdLife Europe, hit back at conservative MEPs’ suggesting that green groups shouldn’t benefit from direct EU funding for lobbying. “This is a dangerous challenge to democracy that MEPs must resist,” he wrote on LinkedIn, stressing that EU funds for NGOs like his are “allocated transparently, [and] carefully audited.”
Brunner pointed out that “foreign governments, wealthy individuals, and large corporations can afford to hire professional lobbyists to influence decisions in Brussels,” while “EU funding provides a limited but important counterbalance by supporting civil society and allowing citizens to have their voices heard.”
Simon McKeagney, a spokesperson for the Greens, said last week that “if we want public policy to be dominated solely by the interests of multinational corporations we can go down this attack on NGOs.”
“It’s very much out of the right-wing playbook, we have seen it in Hungary and elsewhere, so it’s a pity that EPP now jumps on this,” he added.
McKeagney further said his group is in favor of transparency on how EU funds are being spent, “however, there must be transparency across all boards of all beneficiaries of EU funding.” “Budgetary control should not be used as a tool to silence or control civil society,” he warned.
Jonas Sjöstedt, a Swedish MEP from The Left group said « cutting funding for climate NGOs silences the voices fighting for our planet and strengthens corporate lobbyists. While big corporations flood the EU with resources to influence policy, climate NGOs rely on EU support to ensure democracy isn’t one-sided. »
Marianne Gros and Louise Guillot reported from Brussels. Max Griera reported from Strasbourg.
