A no-nonsense guide to the disinformation underpinning the conservative campaign to shrink political and democratic space for critical NGOs. Today, it is about stopping EU-funding, but they want more than that.

The European conservatives in the EPP group have been waging a campaign against NGOs for years, and not in vain. In May 2024 the Commission issued new guidelines for EU funding, intended to block or cancel funding to NGOs involved in activities that may “damage the reputation of the EU”. At the heart of this is an attempt to prevent NGOs from doing advocacy work and lobbying – to silence or tame organisations with unwelcome views on eg. climate or environmental policies. Now – based on the recent activities and statements from the EPP and their far-right allies in the European Parliament – it’s clear that they are stepping up the campaign dramatically, including a European law on NGOs with a crazy ring to it.

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Ahead of a debate on the matter in the European Parliament on Wednesday 22 January 2025, Monika Hohlmeier (MEP, Germany) said: “The contracts of the European Commission with lobbying guidelines infringe the principle of mutual respect among Institutions and impinge on essential principles such as legislative independence, transparency, avoidance of conflicts of interest, fair and impartial distribution of funds and accountability for the proper use of taxpayers’ money. We urge the Commission to put an end to this type of contract, to draw the consequences to avoid such scandalous one-sided methods in the future and to ensure that misused money is repaid."

Here, the objective is clear enough – to defund NGOs.* And the wording leads us to believe what is at play in Brussels is a genuine scandal. Crucial democratic principles are violated, and murky forces are making destructive deals behind the scenes. With such a fanfare, it is worth digging into the main arguments behind the conservative campaign, be it from the politicians in Brussels or in the rightwing tabloid press. What we find, then, is a series of myths and baseless demagoguery.

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A touch of Órban

In Hohlmeier’s world, clearly there is something deeply illegitimate about NGO’s advocacy work as such. To her, presenting MEPs with other options than those presented by the Commission or by corporate lobby groups is an abomination, obstruction of the work done by “the House”. As for draft amendments, it is worth pointing out, that the praxis of drafting amendments has been standard for corporate lobby groups for ages, and there is hardly any significant EU law concerning anything slightly economic or financial that is not littered with finger prints and wording crafted by professional corporate lobbyists. During the so-called “Cash for amendments scandal” in 2011, it came out that for MEPs in the EPP, including Markus Ferber from Hohlmeier’s own German party, it was quite natural to be in close contact with financial companies at home when considering new European financial regulation.

This all invokes echoes of Viktor Órban’s clampdown on NGOs in Hungary, as well as of Donald Trump’s imminent attack on US organisations. While Viktor Órban’s party left the EPP in 2021, it may very well be that Órbanism didn’t. Also, it is worth noting that while this hostile manoeuvre unfolds in Europe, Trump too is moving in on progressive organisations. That parallel development makes it even more eerie.

In sum, progressive NGOs face a big challenge in the coming years. Defending the rights of NGOs will be a key battle that we cannot afford to lose, for the sake of democracy and for securing social and environmental standards.

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