Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In order to examine the way the European Commission finances non-governmental organizations, the party leaders of the European Parliament decided on Thursday to establish a working group under the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT).
Right-wing political groupings backed the European Parliament’s resolution on Thursday to create a working committee to examine EU funding of nonprofit organizations. The European People’s Party, the largest party in Parliament and a center-right party, spearheaded the initiative.
Center-left Socialists and Democrats, liberals from Renew Europe, and the Greens all opposed the working group. However, the proposal passed a vote by group leaders, thanks to support from far-right groups. This is just the latest move by right-wing forces across Europe to increase scrutiny of NGOs.
As reported by Euronews, the group will comprise 13 MEPs, led by German lawmaker Niclas Herbst, with two co-rapporteurs from the center-right European People’s Party and the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group.
What triggered the probe into climate NGO contracts?
Following a dispute over the European Commission‘s funding of environmental NGOs, the Commission announced a decision. The German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag had accused the Commission of secretly paying up to €700,000 to promote the bloc’s climate policy. However, the Commission denied signing “secret contracts” and stated that it maintains high transparency when providing funding to NGOs.
Right and far-right groups in the European Parliament have been advocating for an inquiry committee to clear up the issue, but their proposal was defeated at the Conference of Presidents, the weekly gathering of leaders from the Parliament’s political groups.
Instead, the CoP approved a working group, proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament, and ultimately backed also by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Patriots for Europe (PfE).
Working groups are temporary structures that let European Parliament committees track the implementation of existing laws, conduct investigations and studies on specific, time-sensitive issues. It has a six-month mandate, after which it’ll issue a final report and may recommend changes to the rules.
