On 16 March, the CONT committee presented a draft report on budgetary control of financing NGOs from the EU budget. In general, the report calls for a greater accountability of funds granted to CSOs and for a better cohesion between different DGs of the European Commission, which use various evaluation criteria when it comes to grants. However, many CSOs see this report as an attempt to undermine the democratic checks and balances, as it goes beyond the simple funding and audit procedure, suggesting that CSOs that do not necessarily share the EC’s agenda should not receive funding from the latter. The draft report insists on an EU-wide code of conduct for CSOs applying for EU funding, whose “self-regulation has not proven to be sufficiently adequate to ensure proper accountability”. Globally, the report comes at a time when CSOs’ sources of funding are seriously undermined at the national level and sends a worrying signal of the perception of some MEPs about the work realized by CSOs. Read more here.
Source: European Civic Forum