PiS MEP Mariusz Kamiński sent a letter to the European Commission in which, referring to media reports from recent months, asks whether the Commission is using public funds to engage in behind-the-scenes political lobbying to push controversial policies, such as the Green Deal and climate policy. The ECR Group is preparing a motion to establish a special investigative committee on this matter. Over 200 MEPs have already signed the motion.
“Reports indicate that the funding of experts promoting positions favored by the Commission also extends to agriculture and the common security and defense policy. Furthermore, according to findings by the newspaper *Welt am Sonntag*, in addition to supporting ‘green’ NGOs in activities influencing member states and independent institutions—including the European Parliament—the Commission also allegedly funded NGOs to sue companies in European courts.
One example is the organization ClientEarth, which received 350,000 euros for legal actions against coal-fired power plants—with the explicit aim of increasing the “financial and legal risk” for their operators,” the parliamentary question states.
In light of the above, the PiS MEP called on the European Commission to provide information “that will allow the expected investigative committee—which more than 200 MEPs are already seeking to establish—to work more quickly.”
Kamiński asks whether the European Commission has funded or in any way tasked non-governmental organizations, consulting firms, and lobbying entities to influence the decisions and policies of democratic governments and independent institutions.
Furthermore, the PiS MEP demands answers regarding which other areas—beyond the already confirmed cases involving the Green Deal, security and defense policy, and agriculture — has the Commission conducted similar lobbying campaigns, whether activities promoting the Mercosur agreement were also funded, and what steps it intends to take in response to criticism pointing to the lack of a credible and transparent review of EU funds going to NGOs.
