EU Parliament Approves New Body to Investigate the Climate NGO Scandal

On Thursday, June 19th, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament approved a right-wing initiative to form a special ‘Scrutiny Working Group’ within the budgetary control (CONT) committee to investigate the so-called ‘Timmermans Gate’—the ongoing scandal involving EU-funded climate NGOs lobbying for the Green Deal—among other shady NGO financing deals.

But before celebrating the ‘center-right’ EPP for joining the national conservative parties and thereby not letting the Left block the probe for once, it’s worth noting that the working group is only a compromise solution and not nearly as powerful as a fully independent inquiry committee requested by Meloni’s Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group.

As we wrote back in May, when the party leaders were first supposed to make a decision on the inquiry committee, the vote was delayed thanks to a deal between the EPP and the left-wing parties. According to insider sources, the EPP and the Socialist S&D wanted to use the extra time to come up with a counter-proposal about a special working group under the CONT committee instead, with far more limited powers and a wider mandate than focusing solely on environmental NGOs.

Nonetheless, even if a working group cannot hold the Commission to the same level of accountability as a fully autonomous inquiry committee—which would have the power to summon witnesses and propose legislation on its own—the ECR is right to be proud of this accomplishment. The left-wing parties were fighting tooth and nail to block any inquiry into the illegal cash-for-lobby scandal, and now there’s a chance to finally get to the bottom of it.

“When NGOs take EU cash and then lobby the same institutions, that crosses a line. This isn’t about civil society—it’s about accountability. No more hiding behind good causes,” commented ECR Co-Chair Nicola Procaccini. 

According to Thursday’s agreement, the Scrutiny Working Group will have 13 members, and will be chaired by CDU lawmaker Niclas Herbst (EPP), along with two co-rapporteurs, one from EPP and ECR each.

The conservatives’ goal with the working group is to investigate allegations made public by Dutch media months ago that, under the leadership of former EU Climate Czar Frans Timmermans, the EU Commission has 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, casting doubts on the legitimacy of the entire flagship legislative package.

The payments were distributed through the ‘LIFE’ program, which has a budget of €5.4 billion, raising concerns about how much more taxpayer money may have been illegally or unethically distributed to influence EU decision-making against the public interest.

While the establishment of the inquiry into this and other possible NGO-financing scandals is a major step forward and was welcomed by all conservatives in Brussels (ECR, PfE, and ESN), it’s also worth noting that it’s just one slice of a much larger pie waiting to be uncovered.

A separate initiative put forward in April by the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group aims to create another inquiry committee with a much wider scope—called Transparency and Accountability, or ‘TRAC’—which has often been described as an ‘EU DOGE.’

As we wrote in our in-depth explainer, apart from investigating NGO financing, the proposed TRAC committee would also look into corruption, money laundering, abuse of power, foreign interference, and breaches of transparency standards by EU officials. TRAC would also cover the infamous ‘Pfizergate’ scandal by being able to summon and question even Commission chief von der Leyen herself.

Last month, the TRAC proposal cleared its first hurdle by collecting the required signatures in the Parliament to be put to a vote among the party leaders before a final decision in the plenary. There’s no date set for the initial vote yet, but it’s unlikely the mainstream parties will ever agree on it,  given that nearly all of them could be implicated one way or another in the many corruption cases TRAC would want to look into.

Nonetheless, the Patriots do not plan to back off. “Our fight for transparency is far from over. Our citizens deserve answers,” the group said in a statement, promising to keep pursuing accountability through TRAC and other means for as long as it takes.