8 Amendments of Nathalie LOISEAU related to 2023/2122(INI)
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Welcomes the Commission’s new awareness, which has led to the cessation of EU funding and the recovery of funds paid to associations whose actions were contrary to EU values; calls on the Commission to continue its efforts to ensure that EU funds do not finance associations that do not respect EU values;
Amendment 38 #
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 sponsored by non- EU country governments (government- organised NGOs (GONGOs)) to spread disinformation and false narratives related, in particular, to human rights issues; recalls in this respect the findings of its resolution of 1 June 2023 on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, and of 13 July 2023 on recommendations for reform of the European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption, highlighting the risks of foreign interference and disinformation stemming from some NGOs funded by non-EU countries; highlights that, in the context of recent corruption allegations against some Members of the European Parliament, an NGO, 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 the stakeholders active in the fields of lobbying or advocacy;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that civil society is a broader category than that of NGOs; notes that while NGOs are, on the one hand, a favoured institutional form of the neoliberal state and therefore rarely truly oppositional, on the other hand many resist instrumentalisation and expose the excesses of state and private interests; stresses, therefore, that they must be protected, including through the provision of adequate funding, including foreign funding; notes that it is short-sighted to treat NGOs as a singular bloc with a singular policy outlook at risk of instrumentalisation by malign state and non-state actors; stresses, therefore, that they must be protected, including through the provision of adequate funding providing they respect European values and are subject to scrutiny, due diligence and transparency rules; whereas such requirements are key to trace foreign interference but should not stigmatise legitimate foreign funding;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Welcomes the Commission’s new awareness, which led to the cessation of EU funding and the recovery of funds paid to organisations whose actions were contrary to EU values; calls on the Commission to continue its efforts to ensure that EU funds do not finance any entity that do not respect EU values, as set out in Article 2 TEU, in a context of intolerable interference against our democracies by foreign state or non-state actors through NGOs;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Remains deeply concerned by threats to and attacks on NGOs in Member States as well as EU-funded NGOs in third countries;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that transparency and accountability measures must only serve the purpose of ensuring legitimate public scrutiny; stresses that reporting requirements for NGOs must remain strictly necessary and proportionate to the specific aims pursued and non-cumbersome, in particular for small NGOs;
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that current EU instruments are likely insufficient for achieving proportionate transparency goals concerningto ensure proper scrutiny of NGO funding;
Amendment 117 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Warns emphatically against the weaponisation of the concept of ‘foreign interference’ and emphasises that this can be and is being used by governmentsagainst the risk of foreign interference through NGOs coming from malign third countries as highlighted in its resolution of 13 July 2023 on recommendations for reform of European Parliament’s rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti- corruption; emphasises that any measures taken to prevent malign foreign interference through NGOs should not be used to repress civil society and NGOs.