The European Parliament has adopted its position on the draft Directive on Transparency of Third-Country Interest Representation, intended to expose lobbying on behalf of non-EU governments while excluding normal civil society work, research, media, and general foreign funding; however, European CSOs warn that vague definitions, unclear safeguards, and new terms such as “third-country sponsor” leave space for misuse during national transposition. These risks are acute in the Western Balkans and Turkey, where authorities have previously weaponised transparency measures to stigmatise NGOs and could depict the Directive as EU-backing for “foreign agent” narratives. For enlargement countries, the Directive’s communication and implementation could shape both civic-space conditions and alignment processes. Read more here.
Source: EP/CSE/BCSDN