According to the budget control committee, EU funds intended for parliamentary work were used by Le Pen to finance allied organizations in France. This has led to intense political confrontations in Strasbourg and Brussels.
These amount to millions of euros that must now be repaid. The overarching European far-right group Patriots opposes the decision. They describe it as a political vendetta and claim their French partners are targets of a deliberate campaign by the established parties. According to them, this is a witch hunt that has nothing to do with objective oversight but is based on political hostility.
Center-left and green groups, on the other hand, accuse the nationalist and conservative factions of supporting an action by the EPP Christian Democrats against European subsidies for environmental and nature organizations. These groups often criticize the EU’s agricultural policy.
In recent months, several publications have raised questions about the distribution of EU funds. Various Members of the European Parliament, including Dutch D66 politician Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, warned that civil society organizations are being deliberately discredited. He states that this amounts to silencing citizens who stand up for public interests in association form.
Gerbrandy pointed to a prolonged campaign in which mainly nature organizations were portrayed negatively. According to him, accusations were made without being substantiated by documents or evidence. Dutch EU politicians Mo Chahim (S&D) and Bas Eickhout (Greens) have similarly expressed themselves in comparable terms.
So far, no investigation has produced evidence that environmental organizations have used subsidies unlawfully. The claims against them have never been supported with official documents. However, the misuse by Le Pen’s party has indeed been demonstrated, among other things through administrative data and payments that the committee was able to record.
A majority of the group leaders in the European Parliament recently agreed to the establishment of a temporary working group. This Scrutiny Working Group is tasked with reviewing the funding of civil society organizations. This has paved the way for a new phase of investigation into NGO subsidies.
The new working group was established with a narrow majority of the group leaders. An objection from the budget control committee against it was rejected this week. Critics warn that the working group is primarily intended to intimidate civil society organizations and complicate their work. The coming months will reveal how thorough this investigation will be and what consequences it will have for NGOs.