EU NGO grants : who wants to be a billionaire
More than 7 billion were handed out to NGOs from 2021 to 2023. Organized opacity to avoid accountability?
This is the English translation of this article, originally published in French, Subventions aux ONG: le jeu des 7 milliards
The question at this juncture is whether the opacity surrounding the allocation of European funds, particularly those directed toward non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is deliberate and orchestrated. Or could it simply be a case of a bureaucracy – an "Eurocracy" – that has spiraled out of control, drowning in its own irrationalities?
In a new report, the European Court of Auditors delivers a blunt assessment: the funding of "NGOs" (the quotation marks are warranted, as will become clear) remains steeped in opacity. While there has been some improvement since the Court’s last recommendations in 2018, the European Commission keeps on making the process of allocating grants to non-governmental organizations as convoluted and murky as ever, cloaked behind the façade of a public database. The financial transparency system is neither comprehensive nor up-to-date: most available data, when it exists, only extends to 2022. It also excludes second-tier, indirect beneficiaries of EU funds, except in cases where fund management is shared with member states.
In short, neither the European Parliament’s 2017 report, nor the Qatargate scandal in 2022, nor the 2024 European Parliament resolution demanding greater transparency, have done much to untangle the mess. The web of European funding remains as knotty as ever, casting an odd echo after the USAID uproar in the United States.
For more details : USAID : soon in Europe ?
Which "NGOs" have secured European Union funding? For what purpose? What goals were these grants intended to achieve? What amounts are involved? How well do NGOs adhere to the EU’s established standards—those oft-cited “values”? What mechanisms oversee their expenditure?
"There’s no full, dependable breakdown– by sector or management type –of EU funds earmarked or disbursed to NGOs. Under the revamped financial regulation, the Commission is mandated to launch a one-stop online hub, pulling together and publicizing spending data across all three management streams—direct, indirect through member states, and shared. This platform isn’t expected until the post-2027 budget cycle kicks in. Until then—and assuming NGOs are properly logged—it’s near impossible to get a clear, trustworthy picture of the EU cash flowing their way."
More than 7 billion euros in EU grants flowed to NGOs between 2021 and 2023—covering cohesion, research, migration, and environmental goals—but the details are maddeningly scarce. There’s little solid info to empower citizens to demand accountability from policymakers. Even that 7-billion-euro headline figure is shaky, and that’s not just speculation—it’s straight from Laima Liucija Andrikienė, the audit lead and ex-MEP.
'Take those numbers with a grain of salt”, she warns. “We’re troubled by the lack of a clear, trustworthy breakdown of EU cash going to NGOs. Data trickles out in fragments, and the way it’s shared is still riddled with gaps.”