European Commission slammed for 'opaque' funding of NGOs
The EU’s audit office has demanded greater transparency over EU funding contracts for non-profit civil society organisations, despite finding no evidence during a year-long probe of any wrongdoing by either NGOs or European Commission officials.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/07/european-commission-slammed-for-opaque-funding-of-ngos
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The EU’s audit office has demanded greater transparency over EU funding contracts for non-profit civil society organisations, despite finding no evidence during a year-long probe of any wrongdoing by either NGOs or European Commission officials.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/07/european-commission-slammed-for-opaque-funding-of-ngos
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00The European Court of Auditors slammed the European Commission for opaque funding of non-governmental organizations in a new report.
00:14After looking at EU funding awarded to NGOs over a three-year period, it concluded more transparency is needed.
00:22At the same time, they found no evidence of misconduct.
00:25Thank you very much for your question. Information on EU funding, including lobbying, is neither reliable nor transparent.
00:33For example, the European Commission did not properly disclose certain EU-funded advocacy activities, such as lobbying.
00:41The financial watchdog's report comes at a time when the issue of NGOs funding has become politically divisive in Brussels.
00:49The Conservative European People's Party claims the Commission instructed NGOs to lobby members of the Parliament to further the policy goals.
00:57But NGOs have firmly denied such allegations.
01:00Luckily, the report shows that there is no scandal on NGO funding.
01:06It didn't find any evidence of misuse of funds.
01:09It didn't find any evidence on what our opponent said was undue lobbying.
01:13On the contrary, it confirms that we have the right to receive funding and use that for advocacy activities and that this is covered by the rules and regulations on which we work.
01:25According to MEP Monica Holmeyer, the lack of evidence in the Court of Auditors' report is due very precisely to the lack of transparency.
01:34As there is no requirement to prove what has been done with the money, you cannot get any evidence because if they are not required, then they cannot be documented what has been done with the money.
01:47The Court of Auditors has also confirmed that there is no legal barrier for NGOs to lobby lawmakers directly.
01:53And in any case, MEPs are required to publish details of all meetings.