EU funnels hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to Big 10 Green groups for them to use to lobby the EU and effect EU law. Then US groups say look how smart anti-democratic Europe is, we need to do that

March 2010, "Friends of the EU: The costs of a taxpayer-funded green lobby," policynetwork.net, Boin and Marchesetti

p. 4, "Executive Summary:

"Environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
have enormous influence in the European Union.
However, some of the most vocal green groups are
actually funded directly by the EU to lobby it.
The EU funds many NGOs operating in Brussels whose
main purpose is to influence EU policy-making and
implementation. This report analyses one programme of
funding, in which DG Environment (the division of the
European Commission responsible for environmental
affairs) distributed over 766 million to environmental
NGOs between 1998–2009.

Specifically, we examine funds allocated to the Green 10
– a coalition of ten NGOs pushing for an
“environmental” agenda in EU policy-making.

Nine out of the Green 10 receive funds from the
Commission.

*Eight members receive one-third or more of their
income from the Commission, and five of those rely
on the Commission for more than half their
funding.
*Under EU rules, an NGO can receive up to 70% of its
income from the EU, and thus is obliged to find only
30% of its income from alternative sources.
From 1998 to 2009, there was a substantial increase in
funds given by the Commission to environmental
groups: from 72,337,924 (1998) to 78,749,940 (2009) –
an average increase of 13% every year.
The EU’s funding of Green 10 members has also
increased during this time period.
*Birdlife Europe funding increased by 900%
*Friends of the Earth Europe funding increased by
325%
*WWF European Policy Office funding increased by
270%.
The majority of Green 10 members now receive
considerably more money from the Commission than in
previous years. As a result, many have struggled to
reduce their dependency on EU funds – in fact, three
members depend more on EU funds today than in 2005.
These NGOs then engage in a self-serving cycle in which
they use the EU’s money to lobby the EU for yet more
funds and influence.
*One example is the lobbying by the Green 10 to
“green” the Cohesion Fund, representing 7350
billion – one-third of the EU’s 2007–2013 budget.
The Cohesion Fund distributes about 750 billion to
projects in the EU every year, and the Green 10
members would benefit from any “greening” of the
budget.
*Demands made by the Green 10 included a seat for
an environmental NGO on every single committee
involved in project decisions, the reimbursement of
expenses (which are notoriously generous within
the EU), as well as training and capacity building.
*Despite the Green 10’s attempts to push their way
into the budget process through various coalitions
and campaigns, it failed to achieve these specific
demands. But it is already lobbying in anticipation
of the 2014–2020 budget.
This cycle of convenience is enabled by the Commission
itself.
*The Commission claims that EU funding of
environmental NGOs is necessary to balance the

page 5

interests of business, trade unions and consumer
groups.
*Yet its generous hand-outs to a handful of large,
powerful environmental NGOs – while ignoring
smaller, locally-focused organisations – appear to
contradict this claim. It is doubtful that these large,
centralised organisations are truly representative of
the varied beliefs and opinions of Member State
citizens.
*The three largest recipients of Commission funding
to green groups receive about 70 times more than
the three smallest.
*The Commission effectively has delegated public
relations work to “independent” NGOs in order to
push its own agenda and surreptitiously influence
the public debate on topics 

such as climate change.
 
*Both Commission representatives and recipient
NGOs admit that NGOs that are funded with EU
money benefit from more access to EU policypolicymakers
than independently-funded NGOs.
This evidence suggests that sponsoring the narrow
interests of NGOs such as the Green 10 has undermined
the democratic process and civil society representation
in Brussels. EU funding has enabled activist
organisations to utilise the power of the state to increase
their own budgets and their influence over policy."...via Tony Aardvark, via Tom Nelson









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