EU Transparency Shattered as European Court of Auditors Confirm €7 Billion NGO Scandal

Brussels 09/04/2025 - The Patriots for Europe Group demands full disclosure of NGO contracts. The European Court of Auditors’ current report clearly proves that the European Commission is funding political activist groups across Europe in a completely opaque way. In its special report, the Court reveals a shocking figure: EUR 7 billion was spent to fund NGOs in 2021-23. 40 percent of the total funding went to only 30 NGOs.

The report confirms the total lack of transparency. It is impossible to obtain reliable and comprehensive information on the contracts and on what exactly European taxpayers’ money has been spent.

Additionally, the report notes that in a significant number of cases EU funding accounts for the vast majority of the organisations' revenue. Therefore most of these organizations are not maintained by independent self-organising groups in society but by EU institutions.

What the European Commission has created has nothing to do with civil society. It is a network of political activists who want to implement the Commission's policies and left-wing ideologies. They are weakening the Member States' border protection capabilities, carrying out woke propaganda and campaigning against the interests of farmers. A telling example is that the NGO led by ultra-liberal Guy Verhofstadt has received EUR 15 million in funding in recent years.

We must put an end to this. We, the Patriots Group in the European Parliament, demand full disclosure of the NGO contracts. Everyone has the right to know how taxpayers' money has been spent. It is time for the European Commission to assert the democratic values that it constantly holds others to account for.