Activities of Miguel URBÁN CRESPO related to 2023/2122(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget
Amendments (11)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas the Commission has strong mechanisms for the control of NGO expenditure, among the most strict in Europe; whereas the “Qatargate” and “Moroccogate” scandals involved an NGO which was not registered in the Transparency Register;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas the European Parliament resolution of 8 March 2022 on the shrinking space for civil society in Europe (2021/2103(INI)) states that CSOs report discriminatory and restrictive funding practices in certain Member States;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the need to make more transparent and accessible to the public, the available information on the beneficiaries, including NGOs, of EU external action funds dedicated to human rights and democracy support and to the related EU- funded projects which are implemented worldwide; recognizes that NGOs have championed further transparency at EU level for years; acknowledges the precarious conditions faced by some human rights defenders and NGOs in non-EU countries; believes, in this regard, that confidentiality and data protection must be ensured in order not to put them at risk;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls on the EU and its Member States to be fully transparent about the allocation of funds to third countries for cooperation in migration matters, and to ensure that migration-related European funding, training or other forms of support to third countries do not directly or indirectly facilitate the perpetration of human rights violations, nor reinforce and perpetuate impunity for such violations; urges to subject any EU or Member State-funded migratory cooperation project or initiative to thorough and independent ex-ante human rights impact assessments and monitoring throughout the project, and to disclose the results of such assessments and monitoring to the European Parliament;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recommends that the legal obligations on transparency and financial accountability be applied identically to all human rights NGOs benefiting from EU funding, independently of whether they take on the role of coordinator or member of aninterest representatives benefiting from EU- funded project consortiuming;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Points out that human rights NGOs receiving EU funding give visibility to the EU’s support in different ways, and sometimes incompletely, through various communication channels, including official websites; recognizes that visibility may put the human rights NGOs at risk in some countries with reduced civic spaces; therefore calls for the establishment of harmonised approaches to make EU funding for human rights and democracy support more transparent and visible to the public while always enabling exemptions to such visibility requirements based on local civic space contexts ;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that the funding by non-EU countries of EU-based legal entities, including human rights NGOs, while also carrying out lobbying or advocacy activities within the EU and aiming to influence EU foreign policymaking, raises questions as to their objectives; denounces the use of organisations spons may at times expose these NGOs to external influences; denounces the use of government-organised NGOs (GONGOs), think tanks, companies, or other private bodies, financially supported by non-EU country governments (government-organised NGOs (GONGOs)), to spread disinformation and false narratives related, in particular, to human rights issues; highlights that, in the context of recent corruption allegations against some Members of the European Parliament, an NGO, which was not registered in the Transparency Register and whose stated purpose was to carry out advocacy activities on human rights, is suspected to have been used as a vector of foreign interference; considers that there is a public interest in knowing the financial sources, including non-EU funding, of all the stakeholders active in the fields of lobbying or advocacy; be they NGOs or private companies and lobby groups, and that similar requirements should apply to both;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the progress made in the use of the EU Transparency Register and is committed to continuing its work to expand the scope of the Register and strengthen the monitoring of the data it contains; points out that, as a general rule, annual financial data on the sources of funding, including EU grants and domestic and non-EU donations, of registered legal entities are made publicly available under the EU Transparency Register; stresses that, since 12 July 2023, the participation of ‘interest representatives’ as invited active guests at Parliament’s events is conditional on their prior registration in the EU Transparency Register, except if registration is likely to endanger an individual’s life or personal safety or where other compelling reasons require confidentiality and also imposes a heavy bureaucratic burden on small civil society organizations based in other continents who do not usually work or conduct advocacy activities in Brussels;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recognises, however, that the EU institutions, including Parliament, should have been more diligent in ensuring greater transparency, integrity and accountability regarding their framework for interaction with entities listed in the EU Transparency Register; highlights that requirements demanded to NGOs in accessing the EU institutions are far greater than for other interest groups for example companies, or consultancies; also acknowledges that further resources are needed to strengthen the transparency and accountability of the lobbying or advocacy activities of legal persons or entities, including human rights NGONGOs, companies, business/professional associations, academia, consultants, think tanks, including the sprawling network of consultancies or third countries;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recommends that legal entities engaging in lobbying, including NGOs, be required to register in the EU Transparency Register as a condition for applying for EU grants and receiving EU funding and that their data be subject to the confidentiality exceptions outlined above; calls on the Commission to present proposals to enhance the transparency of interest representation bodies and to ensure that lobbying or advocacy activities, in particular on behalf of non-EU country governments, their budgets and their policy scope are properly disclosed under the EU Transparency Register and that false declarations are subject to sanctions.
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Requests that all changes proposed to current procedures be discussed with NGOs to ensure that a full understanding of the potential consequences of changes on the sector is discussed with representatives, so as to weigh transparency and accountability objectives with potential consequences and implications on an enabling environment for civil society, and to ensure adopted measures are proportional and fair;