Source: European Parliament
The Commission currently does not possess any information regarding the ‘63 George Soros-linked NGOs’ mentioned by the Honourable Member.
As for any funding awarded to entities, reference is being made to the publicly accessible Financial Transparency System (FTS)[1] where information is available on beneficiaries of funding from the EU budget implemented directly by the Commission and other EU bodies such as executive agencies.
The Commission received United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding as a contribution through external assigned revenues for the following projects:
— Under the European Development Fund, USD 7 million (EUR 6.52 million) in 2016-2017 for the project TZ/FED/2016/023-851, ‘EU Support programme to the South Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) Initiative’;
— Under the EU General Budget, USD 9.5 million (EUR 8.5 million) in 2016, for the project ENERGY/2014/37651, ‘GPGC — Delivering access to modern, affordable and sustainable energy/renewable energy to 6 million people’.
In well-functioning democracies, transparent and accountable representation of interests is a fundamental and legitimate activity. Ensuring transparency about these activities and entities involved is essential for maintaining both EU citizens’ trust in the democratic process and decision-makers’ ability to exercise their responsibilities.
In 2023, the Commission introduced the Defence of Democracy package[2] which includes a legislative proposal designed to improve transparency and democratic accountability of interest representation activities on behalf of third countries seeking to influence policies, decision making and the democratic space. This proposal is currently under discussion by the co-legislators.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/budget/financial-transparency-system/index.html ; the annual publications are based on Article 38 of the Financial Regulation (OJ L 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, p. 1-239), and in accordance with the third paragraph of the article, information on recipients is not disclosed in specific cases outlined therein.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023DC0630.