NGOs in Europe under pressure, call for NSC to withdraw from working group

This concerns a case that strikes at the very heart of the democratic functioning of Europe. While the clout of NGOs was already skewed compared to the massive presence of corporate lobbyists, NGOs are now being brought under suspicion by a new working group. The reason for setting up this new working group, named the Scrutiny Working Group on NGO Financing (SWG), is the unfounded accusation from the European People's Party (EPP) that environmental NGOs are allegedly being paid from EU programmes to lobby MEPs for better environmental legislation.

The accusation was made by Dirk Gotink, an MEP from NSC and member of the EPP group. Gotink speaks of shadow lobbying: in contracts with NGOs, the European Commission is alleged to include assignments that NGOs must advocate for in their lobbying for the Commission's plans in exchange for financial support. The seemingly independent NGOs would work on behalf of the Commission and contribute to pushing through the Commission's agenda (hence the term shadow lobbying).

Proof of this is lacking. Follow The Money and Politico conducted investigations and refuted the accusations of shadow lobbying. The European Court of Auditors also conducted an extensive investigation and found no irregularities. Nevertheless, the right and far-right saw cause to establish a working group to scrutinise the financial flows of green NGOs in particular.

The working group is controversial. Critics believe that the working group is mainly intended to bring NGOs under suspicion. Social democratic, liberal and green MEPs called the working group "unnecessary and a witch hunt on civil society", writes Brusselse Nieuwe. That site quotes D66 MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy as an opponent: according to him, the new working group is primarily a tool to "make life difficult" for civil society organisations.

Letter to NSC Board

A major role in the SWG working group is reserved for the Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink (NSC), who is co-rapporteur and driver of the working group. According to Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), which aims to expose lobbying practices in the EU, Gotink has for over a year been one of the political spokespersons at EU level for "a witch hunt". This has the goal of targeting organisations that make a major contribution to political debate and that monitor the functioning of EU institutions with a critical eye.

CEO finds the role of Gotink and his working group worrying and wrote a letter to the board of NSC along with Transparency International Nederland, Natuur en Milieufederatie Noord-Holland and Fair Resource Foundation. The letter states, among other things: "The dubious SWG of which Mr Gotink is rapporteur threatens to infringe upon the legitimate discharge procedure based on the European Treaty. The SWG also threatens to institutionalise further attacks on civil society and fuel far-right disinformation." According to the four organisations, this does not fit with the core values that NSC stands for as a party. The four organisations therefore call on the NSC board "to withdraw the party from this fact-free, Trumpian witch hunt on civil society organisations".

In response to the letter sent to the NSC board, Dirk Gotink calls "the accusations unacceptable". The NSC board let it be known that they "have full confidence in Mr Gotink in scrutinising the executive to strengthen the governance of the European Union".

Read the full letter here:

December 2025

Dear members of the NSC board,

As organisations committed to protecting the crucial role that civil society plays in democratic policymaking, we are writing to you to express our serious concerns about the newly established and controversial Scrutiny Working Group on NGOs (SWG) in the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) of the European Parliament (EP). In particular, the central role in this of MEP Dirk Gotink, elected on behalf of your party as co-rapporteur, causes us great concern. Some of his recent statements in Dutch and other media about the new SWG are extremely damaging to precisely the good governance that the NSC claims to strive for.

Over the past year, the European People's Party (EPP) of which NSC is a member and far-right groups in Parliament have engaged in groundless attacks on NGOs, creating an atmosphere of orchestrated suspicion towards civil society organisations. These organisations advocate for human rights, a viable environment, health and democracy. Unfortunately, the institutional attacks continue to this day, despite the complete lack of evidence of any misconduct.

During last year's discharge procedure, the CONT committee scrutinised dozens of grant agreements with NGOs and put questions to the European Commissioner for Budget and the responsible Commission services. Despite these extensive efforts, there were no findings of misuse of EU funds, breach of rules or maladministration.

The European Court of Auditors also investigated this topic extensively in the context of its special report "Transparency of EU funding to NGOs". The report did not identify any irregularities, financial anomalies or misuse of EU funds by NGOs. For over a year, Mr Gotink has been one of the political spokespersons at EU level for "a witch hunt" against organisations that make a major contribution to political debate and that monitor the functioning of EU institutions with a critical eye. Several independent European journalists from Follow The Money and Politico have investigated this matter and concluded that the attacks are unfounded. The Dutch TV programme Medialogica, which critically examines the work of media and journalists, also made a documentary last summer in which Mr Gotink's statements were convincingly refuted.

A large number of groups have called on democratic politicians in the EP to boycott the SWG so that the European Parliament would "honour its commitment to established democratic procedures and support for civil society". This call was answered: at least three political groups (S&D, Greens, The Left and part of the liberal Renew) indeed announced last week during the first session of the SWG that they did not want to participate in this political theatre. We expect a similar attitude from a party that holds democracy, the rule of law and good governance in high regard. For instance, the NSC document 'Basic Thoughts & Principles of New Social Contract' under 'Good Governance' contains several points that we as NGOs fully agree with: "There are design flaws in our system of governance, as a result of which we make the wrong decisions, problems go unnoticed for too long, the government is poorly scrutinised and the (constitutional) rights of citizens are insufficiently protected."

In his book 'A New Social Contract' (2021), NSC founder Pieter Omtzigt made a number of concrete proposals aimed at 'restoring the relationship between society and government and better directing government action towards the public interest and correcting it where necessary. If the decision-making structure and legal protection are not in order, then the decisions are also incorrect and we are unable to resolve the crisis. This is a work that will take many years, but it is the only way out of the existing crisis politics'.

Indeed, there are quite a few design flaws at EU level. In fact, the long-standing uneven playing field between private corporate interests defended by all kinds of lobby groups on the one hand and the public interest defended by NGOs on the other hand has become significantly more unequal today. There is a veritable wave of deregulation in Brussels in which existing EU legislation protecting people and the environment is being rolled back or abolished.

NSC writes that "the question must constantly be asked whether there is sufficient balance between the role of government and the power of citizens and civil society in society". That balance is de facto completely absent at EU level, and yet Mr Gotink still feels it necessary to cast suspicion on the necessary and European legally enshrined role of NGOs (Article 2 of the European Treaty).

Naturally, democratic control over EU subsidies to civil society is necessary. And that is indeed in place. But if the EP wants to further scrutinise NGOs or other final beneficiaries of EU funds, it has existing tools and procedures to do so. The dubious SWG of which Mr Gotink is rapporteur threatens to infringe upon the legitimate discharge procedure based on the European Treaty. The SWG also threatens to institutionalise further attacks on civil society and fuel far-right disinformation. We of course fully support efforts to improve transparency and accountability for all beneficiaries of EU funds, regardless of whether they are managed directly by the European Commission or by member states through shared management. We are also of the opinion that the European Parliament has – and must exercise – essential institutional democratic control powers, including through the Treaty-based discharge procedure for the budget. We call on you as the NSC board to withdraw the party from this fact-free, Trumpian witch hunt on civil society organisations, and invite you to enter into dialogue with us. We look forward to your response. With kind regards, Hans van Scharen, Nina Holland and Olivier Hoedeman Corporate Europe Observatory, Brussels Lousewies van der Laan, Transparency International Nederland, Sijas Akkerman Natuur en Milieufederatie Noord-Holland, Rob Buurman Fair Resource Foundation