Right wing parties in the European Parliament have launched attacks on NGOs in an attempt to halt specific activities that aim at increasing awareness and representing the voice of millions of people across Europe. During the last plenary session, the motion from the EPP and ECR to weaken the role of environmental NGOs – by halting continued funding of civil society campaign groups, did not reach the majority of the votes. After the voting session, MEP Smit, in charge of the motion, said on social media: “Now the fight for EU NGO transparency really begins”.
But why did this start?
Back in January, some exponents of the right wing parties accused environmental NGOs of taking advantage of the funding coming from the European Commission to comply with lobbying activities that were not openly disclosed, lacking transparency and democracy.
Is this true?
In 2024, the top 50 corporations spent 200€ millions lobbying EU institutions at the expense of climate action. This is obvious if we take a look at what happened with the EU Green Deal which has undergone a big transformation, weakening its purpose and actions. In contrast, the LIFE program funds environmental NGOs with as little as 15.6€ million/year, barely enough to operationally survive.
Where is the real scandal?
More and more scandals are mining the European Parliament’s integrity, from the Qatargate and latest Huawei case to the increase of cases of revolving doors and conflicts of interest with zero to little transparency. In such context of hybrid threats, we understand and agree on the need to reinforce transparency and democracy, but it’s not by declaring war on NGOs that we will promote a democratic society.
Our pledge and request
The values of democracy, inclusiveness and community have always been and will always be values EAEA will never compromise on, values deeply rooted in our Manifesto. But the current narrative of disinformation is presenting challenges that are making it difficult to promote these values and empower citizens, as EAEA has always striven to do. This is why we ask that the claims are redirected to real threats of the above-mentioned values, allowing those striving for democracy to keep on doing what they have been doing so far and by continuing the public funding to support the work of all NGOs.
To read letter, click on the link below.
Text: Greta Pelucco