Discharge 2024: General budget of the EU - Commission

Tabled by Virginie Joron, Julien Sanchez

Added: 14 a. Recalls that grants to NGOs under the EU budget amount to several billion euros per year (estimated at 7.4 billion euros by the European Court of Auditors between 2021 and 2023) of which 3.3 billion euros were received by 30 organisations14a; - Recalls that the scandals of Qatargate or the fraud of humanitarian aid in Syria14b or via Caritas14c in Luxembourg have revealed that some civil society organisations are catalysts for corruption14d; - Deplores the lack of effective control by the European Commission and its executive agencies to trace and publish the final beneficiary of the funds it allocates, in particular in the face of the opaque system of cascading grants between NGOs; - Recalls that many media are subsidised by public or private funds and organise conferences on European policies. The Commission invested EUR 210 million in various media between 2021 and 2027. For example, Euractiv would have received €40 million in 10 years; - Notes that the European Commission spent EUR 81 million on the communication budget in 2024, the year of the European elections14e; calls on the Commission to avoid any communication expenses during election periods as these funds are not declared to the national electoral authorities; - Recalls that a resounding report has revealed the shameless embezzlement of taxpayers’ money by the European Commission, which has injected billions into an obscure network of real-false NGOs and media, a veritable propaganda machine to promote its Europhile policies and silence dissenting voices; Is concerned about the acceleration of the Commission’s attempts to combat freedom of expression over the past several years; is concerned that the Commission plans to inject an additional EUR 9 billion through the AgoraEU programme; 14a https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2025-003339_EN.html and https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/publications?ref=SR-2025-11 14b https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/media-corner/news/olaf-concludes-investigation-activities-ngo-providing-emergency-assistance-syria-2020-02-07_en 14c https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/caritas-missing-millions-may-never-be-recovered-prosecutors-say/79040954.html 14d https://www.politico.eu/article/aid-agencies-under-olaf-investigation/ 14e https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400207

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE783.213