24/01/2025 (Agence Europe) – According to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the scandal surrounding European Commission subsidy contracts encouraging NGOs to lobby European institutions is not a scandal at all. The NGO’s Secretary General Patrick ten Brink believes that it is an “attack on civil society”. Offering assurance, he explained that NGOs are not acting “upon [the] instructions” of the European Commission or “on its behalf” but “with full independence from institutional and corporate agendas”. On the contrary, the EEB—referring to the recent investigation into lobbying on PFAS—has considered it imperative to review the way in which private funding is influencing decision-makers [and causing them] to “[overlook] the dangers to people’s health, rights and justice”. For this reason, the NGO is calling for robust rules to be established so as to better avoid conflicts of interest. (FS)