Should NGOs be subsidized to “counterbalance the influence of the private sector”?
Tasked with supporting environmental projects on behalf of the European Commission, the LIFE program has been heavily criticized by European conservatives, particularly in Germany. The European executive is accused of using this financial instrument to promote its climate policy.
The European Commission is said to have “secretly” paid non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 2023 to help them take action against German companies. This is what Welt am Sonntag claims. in a long investigation. “The objective: to get the general public to support the European Union’s (EU) environmental policy,” assures the conservative German newspaper, which has had access to documents that were previously confidential. “An operation financed to the tune of several million euros thanks to taxpayers’ money.”
The headline cites the example of the NGO ClientEarth. It received €350,000 for taking legal action against German coal-fired power plants to put pressure on their operators. Other activist groups have received financial support for lobbying campaigns to stop pesticide use or for negotiations on the Mercosur free trade agreement, even though they were supported by the European Commission. “Some NGOs have received up to €700,000.” And “[part of] the political class is now demanding greater transparency on [Brussels'] relations with environmental protection associations.”
These revelations must be qualified. The Berlin daily points to the role of the Life program. However, the creation of this European Commission financial instrument intended to support projects related to the environment and climate was validated by Parliament in 2020. The objective? “Better representation of public interests in the legislative debate in order to counterbalance the influence of the private sector, whose financial resources are generally much greater,” we read in the European version of the American media outlet Politico .
The program's calls for projects are public. Selected NGOs, however, must confidentially submit details of their actions to the European Commission in order to obtain funding. This is the point that conservatives are denouncing, arguing that "these roadmaps can be seen as 'instructions' from the Commission, as they sometimes describe the seduction operations that will be implemented: interviews with representatives of European institutions and MEPs, organization of events, communication campaigns on social networks, etc."
The Commission, for its part, assures that "these work programs are created exclusively by NGOs, without its intervention." This seems to be confirmed by the analysis. conducted by Politico Europe of 28 contracts with NGOs. “The associations have around sixty pages of clauses to comply with, particularly regarding fraud, corruption and disinformation […] But in its contracts, the Commission does not mention any obligation to promote the Green Deal, nor to target certain MEPs or Commission services in particular to obtain funding.”
