The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament deplore the shameful decision by the Group of the European People's Party (EPP) to join forces with the anti-European far-right groups in their common effort to use the EP as a tool in their witch hunt against civil society. At today's meeting of the leaders of political groups – the EP Conference of Presidents – the EPP Group stood at the forefront of the creation of a biased scrutiny working group within the EP's committee on budgetary control. This scrutiny working group will be focused exclusively on NGO funding from the EU budget, rejecting the S&D proposal for a broader scope to include the principle of transparency regarding all beneficiaries – civil society, private entities, multinational companies, lobbyists, national governments and EU institutions. The S&D Group believes transparency has to be applied to everybody with no exception – and they are convinced that the EPP is using NGOs as scapegoats to advance a narrow political agenda of securing alternative majorities with the conservatives and the far right.

Iratxe García Pérez, President of the S&D Group, said:

“We denounce the ongoing unjustified attack of the right wing in this Parliament against NGOs. The Socialists and Democrats are in favour of transparency.

“We reject the creation of an inquiry committee focused on NGO funding. We recall the European Court of Auditors’ opinion confirming the legality and transparency of NGO funding. Moreover, the proposal is not in compliance with the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union, nor is it in line with the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure.

“We will always agree with the principle of transparency. This is why we were ready to work on a compromise on a working group that would have broadened the scope to all beneficiaries of EU funds. We regret the EPP opposition to our proposal and their alignment with the far right. Transparency on the use of European funds cannot focus exclusively on non-governmental organisations. This shows that their only objective is to attack and silence civil society.”