BRUSSELS — Right-wing lawmakers’ recent efforts to prevent green NGOs from using EU grant money for political lobbying reignited a decades-old dispute over who’s entitled to influence policymaking.
Now, the lawmakers are taking the fight beyond environmental groups, demanding to scrutinize the contracts of think tanks, business associations and civil society organizations, according to letters obtained by POLITICO and MEPs.
The budgetary control committee, led by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), wants to examine the grants awarded by the European Commission to Transparency International and other NGOs in the fields of justice, migration and agriculture, two letters obtained by POLITICO showed. But, after the bickering between left and right-wing groups, the committee could end up requesting the contracts of all beneficiaries of up to five different directorates-general: environment, climate, agriculture, justice and home affairs.
This move is a second part of a campaign against green NGOs kickstarted last week by Monika Hohlmeier, a leading EPP MEP in the budgetary control committee. She flagged concerns about alleged irregularities she spotted in a €15 million grant program given by the Commission to green NGOs, part of the Europe’s main fund for environmental projects, known as LIFE.
She specifically claimed the NGOs got paid by the Commission’s environment directorate and required them to lobby other Commission departments and the European Parliament to push forward the Green Deal agenda — effectively lobbying on their behalf, she said, demanding “a review of these contracts by the Internal Audit Service.”
The EU’s largest environmental NGOs — known as the Green10 — are preparing to push back against allegations from center-right lawmakers that the Commission has meddled in the legislative process by paying NGOs to lobby other EU institutions to push for more ambitious Green Deal legislation on its behalf. The coalition will hold a press conference on Monday.
Broadening the net
The EPP chair of the budgetary control committee, Niclas Herbst, circulated a draft letter on Jan. 23 intending to widen the debate on NGO funding to other areas, namely Transparency International, after receiving a request by MEPs. Herbst declined to disclose who.
Nicholas Aiossa, director of Transparency International EU, argued they are being targeted “because we have been critical of the continued attacks on civil society by the EPP … and we have highlighted potential and continued potential conflicts of interest of lucrative side gigs held by senior EPP members.”
Transparency International has looked into the conflicts of interest of some of the MEPs who have been particularly vocal against the green NGOs.
“They seem to be taking a leaf out of [Viktor] Orbán’s book and the use of his notorious Sovereign Protection Office,” Aiossa said, referring to the authority set up by the Hungarian prime minister to investigate foreign-funded NGOs. Aiossa added that the EPP is conducting a “vendetta against civil society.”
The Transparency International letter was never sent, however, and a new draft version was circulated on Jan. 30, this time casting a wider net to request all contracts awarded to NGOs by DG HOME, DG JUST and DG AGRI, according to the second letter obtained by POLITICO.
“We have to talk about it properly because it’s tax payers money and it has to be used in a transparent way,” Hohlmeier said.
MEPs from center to left pushed back and asked to include all contracts the aforementioned departments have with businesses and trade associations in the letter. “I don’t want it to be just NGOs, so then I want to see all the contracts, whether they are with companies, think tanks, any legal entity,” said Daniel Freund, a Green MEP.
“We are open to discuss with other political groups how to best address this outrageous behavior of the EPP group of naming and shaming it has under the false pretext of caring for transparency,” an S&D spokesperson told POLITICO.
Ultimately, the committee may request the contracts of all beneficiaries of up to five different DGs — environment, climate, agriculture, home affairs and justice — according to Herbst’s office
“My job is to scrutinize how taxpayers’ money is used … the Commission has to change its ways,” Herbst said, adding he is not against using funds to support NGOs as long as the funds are not for lobbying, and that he is ready to scrutinize all necessary contracts from other organizations as part of his role as the budget control committee chair.
EU lawmakers escalate NGO funding fight
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