Csaba Domotor: List of Contracts Between the European Commission and So-Called Civil Society Organizations Is Now Public

Fidesz's delegation in Brussels and the Patriots for Europe EP group have made public the list of contracts signed by the European Commission with so-called "civil sector organizations," including thousands of political activist groups, Csaba Domotor, MEP for Fidesz, told a press conference in Budapest on Thursday. The list can be found on the website Ngotransparency.eu, he revealed.

Csaba Domotor, MEP for Fidesz (Photo: MTI)

On the Ngotransparency.eu  website, anyone can do a search to find out whether a specific political activist group or NGO received funding from Brussels between 2019 and 2023.

Additionally, with just one click, users can see which activist groups in a particular country received financial support from the European Commission.

 he added.

The published data is based on documents obtained from the European Commission, Csaba Domotor explained.

The numbers are shocking: between 2019 and 2023, the European Commission signed 37 thousand such contracts totaling 17 billion euros, which equals about 6,800 billion forints,

he highlighted.

What has been created is exactly like the American USAID, which was suspended because behind its high-sounding goals was actually a liberal funding machine,

the MEP pointed out.

He stated that while the list does include organizations that carry out genuine civil sector activities,"they make up only a small minority, and they are not the ones receiving the large amounts of funding." Despite what liberal opinion leaders and decision-makers say, what has been created has absolutely nothing to do with civil society in the classic sense, Csaba Domotor pointed out.

He pointed out that civil society is built from the bottom up, self-organized and represents certain groups in society. In contrast, this network was created top-down, has no social roots, does not convey the voice of specific social groups to Brussels, but rather transmits the will of the Brussels elite to every corner of Europe. So they engage in political activity without a mandate from voters, using taxpayers' money, and working against the will and interests of the voters, he pointed out.

He also noted that a recent report from the European Court of Auditors concluded that many of the funded organizations wouldn’t survive on their own without financial support from Brussels.

Furthermore, a large number of these organizations are registered in Brussels, which clearly indicates they are closely tied to the EU's institutional system in Brussels,

he added.

So-Called Civil Sector Organizations Push Liberal Politics in Many Ways

Csaba Domotor also said that these funded organizations promote liberal policies in many different ways, for example, by weakening the border protection capabilities of member states. In addition, they organize actions against right-wing governments, campaign against agricultural subsidies, and lobby MEPs in line with the expectations and priorities of the Commission. He added that some of these groups sue power plants, and in Germany, there have even been cases where power plants were occupied. Beyond this, they protest against job-creating investments or produce material for smear campaigns to support the rule-of-law proceedings against Hungary.

With the exception of power plant occupations, virtually all of these activities have occurred in Hungary, Csaba Domotor emphasized. He highlighted that 

the association Mikepercsi Anyak a Kornyezetert Egyesulet, whose president recently held a campaign event with Peter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, also received significant funding from Brussels. These 'activist contracts' are essentially tools for interfering in elections. This network or this funding system seriously distorts democracy, and instead of expanding it, it should be dismantled,

the MEP stated, adding that transparency is the first step, and that the issue is especially relevant now because the new seven-year EU budget would allocate even more funding to political activist groups.

So the money that is being taken away from farmers or cohesion funds would not only go to Ukraine, but also to political activist organizations,

Csaba Domotor stressed.

He emphasized that their data requests will also be expanded to include post-2023 contracts and the financing of liberal media outlets, because enormous amounts of money were distributed across Europe during last year's election campaign, distorting public discourse as well. He added that their push for transparency will also target so-called fact-checker groups.

In response to a question, he said that real civil sector organizations have social roots and are maintained by local communities. For example, a conservation association has real members and carries out its work through donations, he said. Whereas, he continued,

an activist group, whose funding comes predominantly, more than ninety percent, either from the Commission, or from USAID, or from one of the branches of the Open Society Foundations, and the size of the one percent income tax donations from taxpayers is below ten percent or even one percent of their budget, is quite clearly an organization that does not have a democratic mandate but carries out political activities,

Csaba Domotor pointed out.

Cover photo: Csaba Domotor, MEP for Fidesz (Photo: MTI)