On Thursday, 8 May, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups opted to postpone deciding whether to create a committee of inquiry to look into the European Commission’s funding of NGOs.
The ECR group, which had originated the request, had gathered the 180 MEP signatures needed to establish a committee of inquiry (see EUROPE 13613/20).
An ECR spokesperson stated, “We regretfully note the decision to push back the deadline”. In his view, “Parliament’s role fundamentally involves asking the Commission to account for the public money it spends” According to information obtained by Politico, the vote has been postponed until June in order to allow EPP, S&D, and Renew Europe to work on creating a special working group inherent to the Committee on Budgetary Control. Maintaining the position they have held the past few months, S&D and Renew Europe want to extend the scope of their investigation beyond just NGOs.
In its 2023 discharge that was adopted on Wednesday, 7 May (see EUROPE 13635/2), the European Parliament called for “full financial transparency for NGOs and other interest representatives and for the Commission to share the results of an internal screening of contracts with the Parliament”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)