EU Funding – FPÖ filed a complaint due to suspicion of embezzlement
Vienna – The FPÖ has filed a complaint regarding the disbursement of funding to organizations and associations by the EU Commission. This was reported by FPÖ constitutional spokesman Michael Schilchegger and blue EU Member of Parliament Roman Haider at a press conference. They criticized the support of non-governmental organizations, particularly in the environmental sector, as being non-transparent. It is often unclear what purpose the payments serve and who is behind the NGOs, they stated.
A presentation of facts was submitted to both the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in Austria and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Schilchegger explained. The EU Commission is wasting taxpayers’ money to support associations that, in turn, would influence EU policy – and individual EU parliamentarians – with their agenda, they lamented. In recent years, 17 billion euros have been distributed to 37,000 recipients. At the same time, beneficiaries are sitting in workshop groups at the EU level.
Register for organizations demanded
In doing so, the Commission is doing what it accuses third countries like China of: namely, attempting to exert influence through NGOs. The FPÖ demands that funded organizations be comprehensively recorded in a register that also outlines their financing and contracts. “This is urgently needed,” Haider expressed his conviction. “The Commission has been very negligent in its review,” he stated.
Haider expressed his pleasure that the matter is now at least being examined in a working group. He himself, he emphasized, would have preferred a parliamentary inquiry committee. Some “absurd” funding, for example to African NGOs, is certainly unacceptable, he asserted.
SP-Schieder sees “witch hunt”
Criticism came from SPÖ EU delegation leader Andreas Schieder. The FPÖ is conducting a “real witch hunt” against civil society organizations, he stated. It is not surprising that a party that denies climate change or courts authoritarian forces attacks those who advocate for environmental protection or human rights. “The FPÖ is trying to silence critical voices here and further shift the political playing field in favor of industry and corporate lobbies,” Schieder expressed his conviction.
“The coordinated and ongoing attacks by some FPÖ and ÖVP parliamentarians against NGOs are an absolutely unjustified attack on civil society. Their goal is to silence unwanted experts. What is happening here is not oversight – it is political intimidation. The FPÖ apparently wishes for harassment rules for civil society organizations in the entire European Union and Austria, similar to those of Orban or Putin. This hate campaign must stop immediately!” demands green EU parliamentarian Lena Schilling. (31.07.2025)
