A WELT article from 7/6/25 contains several allegations against EU-funded NGO in general, and Friends of the Earth Europe in particular.
We believe that the WELT article is feeding into a fabricated scandal based on misrepresentation of how EU NGO funding works.
Our assessment:
For several months (and longer), civil society organisations have been faced with a campaign to damage our reputation and restrict our involvement in EU policymaking. The attempt to portray legitimate, transparent NGO funding as a scandal undermines democratic civil society work, especially in the environmental and climate area where corporate lobbying influence is dominating. We support transparency and public oversight and welcome scrutiny (towards all kinds of political influence) – but what’s needed is a facts-based debate, not conspiracy narratives.
European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Unlike well resourced actors such as multinational corporations and business associations, NGOs often lack adequate funding to input their and their national members’ expertise into public dialogues. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets spent nearly € 200 million lobbying the EU alone, a 66% increase compared to 2015. That’s two thirds more than in 2015, and ten times the total public budget allocated to support NGOs.
In the recent Omnibus regulation package, lobby associations representing 16 of 28 companies accused of human rights abuses and environmental destruction along their supply chains got their wish list incorporated into the Commission’s final proposals. Blaming NGOs is a convenient distraction — the real scandal is how corporate lobbyists quietly shape EU policy to protect profits, not people or the planet.
Here are some details on the particular case of Friends of the Earth [Europe] mentioned in the article.
- Friends of the Earth Europe is the umbrella organisation of 31 member groups, representing hundreds of millions of people. Our agenda is set by our members – in a lengthy transparent and democratic process – not by the European Commission or any funder.
- Friends of the Earth Europe, like many NGOs, receives EU LIFE programme funding, which is transparently awarded through public calls and strictly regulated processes. All LIFE grantees, the process and criteria and the amount of funding are published in detail on the European Commission website. Our grant agreements and reporting are frequently evaluated by independent agencies.
- The LIFE Operating grants, which are a tiny fraction (0.006%) of the EU budget, support core environmental work – including policy analysis, political education, and capacity-building – of NGOs like Friends of the Earth Europe. LIFE funding is provided to support civil society participation in EU environmental and climate policy — not to instruct NGOs what to campaign on.
- Our workplan stems from the values and mission of our international federation and the consultation of our member groups and campaign programmes. Our positions on issues such as the EU-Mercosur trade agreement are consistent with our long-standing values, decided independently by our network members — not directed by the Commission or any funder. We never made any “secret” agreements with or promises to the European Commission to take a particular political stance.
- The European Court of Auditors recently examined these contracts and found no irregularities or misuse of funds.
