Timmermans Faces Complaint alleging Billions in EU Funds Misdirected to NGOs
LUXEMBOURG & MUNICH – Former European Commissioners Frans Timmermans and Virginijus Sinkevičius are at the center of a formal complaint filed July 23 by the TaxPayers Association of Europe (TAE), alleging the European Commission channeled billions of euros to non-governmental organizations (ngos) through perhaps unlawful and opaque procedures between 2019 and 2024. The complaint has been lodged with both the Public Prosecution Service in Munich and the European Prosecutor’s Office (Eppo) in Luxembourg.
The TAE estimates the amount of funds distributed without transparent processes to be approximately 7 billion euros. The complaint details instances where NGOs allegedly received funding contingent on actions directly opposing policies supported by the Commission itself. clientearth, such as, reportedly received €350,000 to initiate legal challenges against German coal-fired power stations. similarly, Friends of the Earth was allegedly funded to oppose the mercosur trade treaty while the Commission together sought to finalize the agreement.
“There was even lobbying within the ranks of the European Commission against the shared interests of the same committee,” stated the Tax Payers’ Association.
Timmermans, now the party leader of groenlinks-PvdA in the Netherlands, maintains he did not directly authorize contracts with NGOs, and has indicated responsibility lies with Christian Democrat Johannes Hahn, who oversaw the LIFE program responsible for distributing the subsidies.
TAE Chairman Michael Jäger (62) characterized the situation as “a dangerous erosion of democratic control in Europe.” The allegations raise questions about the oversight of EU funding and the potential for conflicts of interest in the Commission’s engagement with external organizations.
