The European Commission is facing a criminal complaint over allegations that it wasted billions of euros in taxpayer money by funding NGOs without sufficient oversight.
The Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE) has filed charges against two former EU officials: ex–Vice President of the Commission Frans Timmermans—the architect of the European Green Deal— and Virginijus Sinkevičius, former Commissioner for the Environment.
The complaint accuses the Commission of funneling over €7 billion between 2019 and 2024 to NGOs whose operations and objectives—some of which included influencing the European Parliament—were poorly monitored.
These funds were used in part to campaign against trade deals like the Mercosur agreement—which the Commission itself was backing—or to finance lawsuits targeting European industry—all while taxpayers footed the bill.
Other groups received money for influencing MEPs before votes on pesticides and chemicals.
Michael Jäger, head of the TAE, emphasised that “the allocation of public funds must be transparent and comprehensible.”
The criminal complaint comes on the heels of recent revelations earlier this year that under the leadership of Frans Timmermans, the EU Commission paid at least €750 million to climate NGOs to lobby lawmakers both in Brussels and in the capitals on behalf of the disastrous Green Deal.
In April, the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) said there is no transparency and no oversight regarding where most of the money sent to NGOs ends up.
