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Nice Work If You Can Get It
You'll need a subscription for this Economist story, but it's worth getting to reveal yet another little-known aspect of Brussels corruption.
The European Commission has decided that it should make itself more relevant to Europe's people. Should commissioners send drones all over the continent to ask the population what it should do to reflect the wishes of Europe's inhabitants? No. Should commission decisions be put to a popular vote? Perish the thought.
No, the European Commission decided to talk to the people by opening dialogues with some of Brussel's numerous "civil society" NGOs, including luminaries like the Young European Federalists, the Federalist Voice, the Active Citizenship Network, the European Network Against Racism and the Polish NGO Office. Yes, Europe's leaders are sure to hear exactly what the man in the street thinks by speaking to the Young European Federalists.
Their conclusion? That more power should be put in the hands of the European Commission.
But where do these groups come from? Where on earth does an organisation like the Eurofanatic Federalist Voice get its funding?
Er, from the European Commission, of course. According to the Economist, the five NGOs above are funded directly or indirectly by the Commission - and so have a vested interest in campaigning for their paymasters to have more power.
The European Young Federalists alone received 460,000 Euros in just five years, and that is only the tip of the iceberg: Outgoing European Commission President Romano Prodi reckons that under his watch the Commission has forked out a billion Euros to various NGOs!
Much of the cash goes to NGOs campaigning for social causes. If a commissioner is contemplating a tricksy piece of social legislation, he just has to stroll across Brussels to a commission-funded NGO office and ask what the inhabitants think of the draft. "Consultation" over the legislation can be pushed on its way.
But sometimes the NGOs don't always do what the commission wants. The first draft of the European Constitution did not oblige commissioners to consult with NGOs before passing legislation. So NGOs campaigned successfully to have a clause forcing commissioners to consult with "civil society" (ie NGOs) inserted, thus doing what NGOs do best - safeguarding their own survival.
Self interested? Well, NGOs seem to spend much of their time campaigning for more money. Here's the Economist's last word:
"But campaigning on their own behalf is a big occupation of these groups. Look at the websites of EU-funded NGOs and it becomes clear that one of their favoured activities is to lobby for even more EU money. Thus the European Network against Racism (80-90% commission-funded) complains truculently that 'the present budget line for anti-racist activities is...insufficient. The network...needs to put pressure on the European institutions with a view to increase this amount.'
"The spectacle of organisations that receive EU money using their money to campaign for more EU money is only one example of this looking-glass world. It is a world in which so-called NGOs are actually dependent on government for cash; and one in which the European Commission, itself directly financed by Europe's national governments, finances “autonomous” organisations that campaign for more power and money to be handed to the commission itself."
