Civil Society Statement
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an unprecedented attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. The attack, spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by the far-right groups, is fuelled by disinformation. The attack resorts to misleading arguments to artificially fabricate a scandal, and is carried and amplified by badly informed media articles. At a time when democratic values are being eroded across the EU and Member States, and civic actors acting for these values are increasingly under attack, this renewed offensive on funding for CSOs and on our legitimacy in the democratic process risks not only shrinking European civic spaces further but weakening democracy as a whole.
Disinformation from elected Members of Parliament
On 22 January 2025, some MEPs brought a targeted debate to the Plenary of the European Parliament (EP) on public funding of NGOs, focusing on environmental civil society organisations receiving operating grants under the LIFE programme. The debate raised questions about the legitimacy for CSOs to get such subsidies from the European Commission to carry out their missions. Many MEPs spoke in favour of the right of citizens organisations to engage in the democratic process. However, some MEPs mismatched arguments, suggesting that environmental organisations had been paid by the Commission to lobby the European Parliament on its behalf. This false narrative brings together opponents to the European Green Deal and adepts of conspiracy theory. MEPs wrongly spoke about fictional amounts of billions of Euros going to CSOs. False claims that CSOs were not duly using the Transparency Register were made – even though EU transparency measures resulted from campaigns by civil society, and CSOs were amongst the first adopters when they were put in place.