Brussels – NGOs are not in question. “The Commission is fully committed to supporting civil society, including by funding non-governmental organizations,” said budget commissioner Piotr Serafin, who dismissed all controversy and criticism about their role after the Court of Auditors report. The commissioner responds to a parliamentary question denouncing the restrictions decreed against NGO representatives in the European Parliament, and this allows the Polish member of the College of Commissioners to clarify that the von der Leyen team does not intend to call into question what are not even habits.
“Independent civil society organizations are an essential component of EU democracies and instrumental for putting into practice fundamental EU values,” Serafin stressed. For this reason, there are no plans to erase NGOs, which are an expression of civil society. On the contrary, the goal is to give them greater centrality. “The Commission will present in 2025 a Civil Society Strategy which will include actions to foster the engagement with civil society,” Serafin added.
However, Brussels does not give blank checks. The EU executive acknowledges that “it is not appropriate to enter into agreements which foresee that NGOs lobby the European institutions for a specific political content, as part of their work programs,” the budget commissioner noted, who then assures that everything and everyone must have limits. In any case, in the name of democracy, values, and fundamental rights, “Civil society entities financed by EU programs remain fully autonomous and free to establish their own views.”
