After voting during an unequal meeting of the European Parliament’s Environmental Commission, he issued a statement in a statement that the queue for funding by non-governmental organisations in the EU policy bubble has sparked criticism of putting pressure on political rights.
The conservative European People’s Party (EPP) and allies lost to the right by one vote on Monday evening, opposing the move against the decision to fund NGOs through the Life Programme for the 2025-2027 period.
In a subsequent statement, the committee said that NGO funding is “explicitly provided in life regulations” and that it is “fully committed to ensuring a healthy, vibrant civil society.” However, it also said that several of the work programs attached to the grant agreement “involved certain advocacy measures and excessive lobbying.”
The EPP seized the latter statement, with the co-sponsor of the condemnation Motion Thunder Smitt saying the committee “finally admitted.”
SMIT pointed to a new commitment from EU executives to eliminate “lobbying activities targeting specific policies or MEPs” from grant agreements, preventing conflicts of interest and confirming transparency. “This is good news for the integrity and balance of EU taxpayers, EU institutions, and separation of power,” he said.
“This is also good news for some civil society organisations that work transparently and fairly,” the Dutch lawmaker added.
The European Environment Agency welcomed the committee’s recognition of the “essential role” of NGOs among the largest green groups operating in Brussels, but pointed to “serious questions” that the process raised around “the impact of blackmail and backdoors by some political groups.”
Committee denies “Singling Out” NGO
Faustine Bas-Defossez, the group’s policy director, said public funding allows NGOs to tackle the public interest and express unprecedented voices to policymakers. “If it is considered ‘overlobbying’, we need to seriously question the meaning of those standards for the future of democratic accountability in Europe,” she said.
A second-sized socialist and Democrat group on the EPP denounced what they viewed as submission to put pressure on from the right, demanding that Environment Commissioner Jessica Rosswall explain why the Green Group is being “single out.”
“This politically motivated move risks justifying right-wing attacks to silence civil society,” S&D said on social media. “We won’t accept this.”
He called for an answer to this criticism from Euronows, a spokesman for EU enforcer Balazs Ujvari said that the guidance issued last May was applied to all funding beneficiaries through the Life programme, which has a budget of 5.43 billion euros in 2021-2027.
Private companies, local governments and research foundations also receive life funding, but the issues that prompted EU officials to take action were arising in relation to NGOs “according to our own research and assessments.”
“We don’t want to be seen as a non-governmental organisation to lobby specific members of the European Parliament,” said a committee official. “This is the main consideration for us.”
Eurosceptics demand parliamentary investigation
If the EPP’s latest statement appears to be somewhat reconciled – “We strongly support the Life Program and recognize the very important role of NGOs,” said Peter Liese, the group’s environmental policy coordinator, who cannot say the same about co-sponsoring the deliberate ECR group, the council’s move.
The morning after the vote, co-chaired Nicola Procaccini told reporters at Strasbourg that the ECR would like to establish a parliamentary committee of investigations into what they characterize as a full-scale corruption scandal.
“We have successfully gathered as many signatures as necessary to begin the formal investigation committee process on the so-called Timmerman’s Gate,” Procaccini added that the proposal will be raised at the next meeting of the President of the Congressional Group, which will set the agenda for Congress.
However, it appears that the initiative is not likely to be successful. The ECR and its right-hand allies will need EPP support, so the position of group leader Manfred Weber will be decisive at the meeting on Thursday morning (April 3) .
Officials contacted by Euronows said the group had not formally discussed the subject. “However, the EPP generally does not support special parliamentary committee multiplication, especially if existing committees such as Cont can already address this issue.”
Officials were referring to a Congressional Committee on Budget Management, which is scheduled to adopt the committee’s 2023 budget exemption report on April 7th.
Greens co-chair Terry Lentke told Euroneus that NGOs “play an essential role in balancing business interests in European law,” and she questioned the ECR’s motives, not to mention that EU funds must be spent according to rules.
“According to the script by Donald Trump and Victor Orban, the ECR wants to silence NGOs and civil society, and we call on EPP members to stick to the democratic centre,” said the German lawmaker.
The EU Audit Court is scheduled to present a enthusiastic report on NGO funding next week. This doesn’t particularly target groups operating in the Brussels policy-making bubble, but it’s sure to shed light on EU enforcement and transparency practices.
