Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001634/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Jean-Paul Garraud (PfE)
In its Special Report 11/2025, the European Court of Auditors revealed a system that is wholly unacceptable: the European Union finances NGOs on a very large scale with no serious scrutiny. Organisations proclaiming themselves to be NGOs receive grants without proper verification of their independence or compliance with European values (paragraphs 11, 17 and 23). Some serve commercial interests, while others have distinct political agendas, without democratic legitimacy.
More than 40% of the funds are received by a small number of organisations favoured by the Commission (paragraph 42), 85% of which survive exclusively on public grants (paragraph 57). This opaque system makes it possible to finance ideological, pro-immigration campaigns and structures committed to communitarian causes or which advocate in favour of sensitive societal issues.
- 1.How does the Commission justify the fact that entities serving private interests can be recognised as NGOs and thus benefit from European public funding?
- 2.Why does it continue to publish incomplete or unusable financial data, making it impossible for citizens to scrutinise the funds allocated to NGOs?
- 3.Will it make all public funding conditional on full transparency regarding the sources of funding and political activities of NGOs?
Submitted: 23.4.2025