European Parliament creates official working group to scrutinise NGO funding
On 19 June 2025, the European Parliament voted in favour of establishing a Scrutiny Working Group on NGO financing within the European Budgetary Control Committee.
The proposal was led by the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and backed by the right-wing European Conservatives & Reformists group (ECR) and the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE).
The decision came despite repeated confirmation both from the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors that EU funding to NGOs is transparent, lawful and aligned with EU policy objectives.
We believe that singling out civil society organisations will undermine their crucial role in shaping and delivering EU priorities and contribute to distorting the public opinion in this respect, in a context of already notably shrinking civic space. We echo the statement made by Olivier Röpke, President of the European Economic and Social Committee: “Scrutiny must be applied in a fair, balanced and comprehensive way. Any assessment of EU funding should […] extend to all categories of beneficiaries, including private companies, lobbying groups, public institutions and others”.
Contact
