The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group has secured enough signatures to launch a formal inquiry committee into what they call 'green lobbying' and the use of EU funds by climate and environmental groups, sources told EUobserver on Wednesday (2 April).
The probe will focus on organisations funded by the EU’s 'Life' programme, the bloc’s main tool for financing environmental and climate action, and follows months of growing hostility from conservative and far-right lawmakers.
The inquiry committee still has to be formally approved by the European Parliament's conference of presidents, a governing body representing political groups in parliament that will meet at the end of April. "They will also decide its numerical strength," an ECR spokesperson said.
Green NGOs in Brussels receive €15m out of the ‘operating fund’ of Life, the commission’s programme for environmental projects.
This money is used for rent, staff, and other ongoing costs.
And ensuring that civil society, “by appropriate means,” can “make known their views” is constitutionally enshrined in article 11 of the EU treaty.
Meanwhile, what began as a technical debate about transparency has morphed into a political offensive, with parts of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) now lining up alongside the far right to go after environmental groups and EU-funded climate programmes.
“Through a shadow lobby, the commission is influencing parliament. Our investigation continues - no stone will be left unturned,” EPP euro-deputy Dirk Gotink said on Bluesky.
“They are trying to fabricate a story around funding as if we’re part of some sort of covert operation,” retorted Ariel Brunner, director of the NGO BirdLife, describing the EPP attack as a “slanderous witch-hunt.”
Earlier this week, the push to defund Life suffered a setback when right-wing parties lost a symbolic vote in the parliament’s environment committee (Envi), with some EPP members breaking ranks.
On the morning after the vote, co-chair Nicola Procaccini told reporters in Strasbourg that the ECR wanted to set up a parliamentary committee of inquiry into what he described as a green corruption scandal.
In parallel, the European Commission and the EPP reached a behind-closed-doors agreement on the future of Life funding.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the commission formally reaffirmed the importance of the programme, while also suggesting that some grant-funded work includes “specific advocacy actions and undue lobbying activities”, which green groups say was lifted straight out of the EPP playbook.
“This isn’t over. The objection may have failed, but the political intent behind it remains,” said Faustine Bas-Defossez, policy director at the European Environmental Bureau group.
“There is no 'shadow lobbying', only public funding that enables NGOs to operate and advocate for the common good," she said.
“If that’s considered undue lobbying by EPP standards, we should all be deeply concerned about the future of democratic accountability in Europe,” she added.
Next week, on Tuesday, MEPs in the budget committee will vote on the annual budget report, which includes scrutiny of how EU funds - including those under the Life programme - have been used. Earlier versions included direct attacks on Life grants and green NGOs.
If the language is softened, it would be a small win for green groups, but the inquiry will likely still go ahead.
Wester is a journalist from the Netherlands with a focus on the green economy. He joined EUobserver in September 2021. Previously he was editor-in-chief of Vice, Motherboard, a science-based website, and climate economy journalist for The Correspondent.
Wester is a journalist from the Netherlands with a focus on the green economy. He joined EUobserver in September 2021. Previously he was editor-in-chief of Vice, Motherboard, a science-based website, and climate economy journalist for The Correspondent.