An alliance of conservative and far-right politicians in the European Parliament is pushing to drastically curtail the rights of environmental organizations. During a plenary debate on Wednesday, multiple verbal attacks were launched against civil society organizations in Brussels. The debate on “EU funding for NGOs” that work in environmental and nature protection was added to the agenda with the support of the EPP and the three far-right parliamentary groups. This latest move is part of a years-long campaign, primarily coordinated by conservative politicians in the European Parliament, aiming to weaken civil society and citizen participation at the EU level.

Just a few weeks ago, the EU-Commission prohibited several environmental organizations from using EU funding from the “LIFE” program to conduct lobbying activities toward EU institutions. EU funding for civil society was originally established to ensure broad and balanced participation from a variety of actors—not just industry lobbyists—in public debates and decision-making processes at the European level. According to EU treaties, EU institutions are obligated to foster lively exchanges with civil society.

Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament for the Greens, commented:

“Environmental organizations do essential work in the EU—protecting clean rivers, preserving biodiversity, and fighting climate change. That’s precisely why conservatives and far-right politicians now want to put obstacles in their way and significantly weaken their voice in Europe.”

“We need a strong civil society voice in Brussels—so that environmental protection has a seat at the table alongside the corporate and industry lobby giants when environmental policies for all of Europe are being made. The conservatives’ current proposals amount to a de facto work ban for NGOs. It’s outrageous.”

“It is intolerable that these attacks on civil society are being carried out under the guise of ‘lobbying transparency’. For more than a decade, EPP politicians have been trying to make life difficult for NGOs. If they truly cared about transparency, they would apply the same demands to corporations.”

EU Funding for NGOs vs. Industry Lobbying

The share of EU funds allocated to civil society organizations is relatively small: only €15.6 million per year from the LIFE program is available for operating grants to environmental NGOs and other civil society groups. In comparison, the 50 companies with the highest lobbying budgets spent nearly €200 million on EU lobbying in 2024 alone—two-thirds more than in 2015. Over two-thirds of the entries in the EU Transparency Register represent economic interests, vastly outweighing other societal actors.

The current information on lobbying expenditures in the EU Transparency Register is misleading. Nonprofit organizations must declare their entire annual budget, while for-profit organizations are only required to report expenses specifically incurred for lobbying. This artificially inflates the figures for NGOs compared to businesses, which—if held to the same standard—would have to declare billions. We intend to use the upcoming revision of the lobbying register later this year to improve this system.