FRA’s input focused on EU Funding for the work of civil society organisations in order to strengthen democracy and policy implementation. It emphasised the need to sustain financial support for the work of civil society organisations that focus on fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law.
It was part of the public consultation on EU funding for cross-border education, training and solidarity, young people, media, culture, and creative sectors, values, and civil society.
In this paper, FRA highlights the European Commission’s important role of as an independent funder for civil society organisations, human rights defenders and activists that face concrete threats and attacks. It sets out what funding for civil society work should look like, and how it should be implemented in the next EU budget.
The FRA submission draws on the latest available evidence collected by the Agency, which indicates a significant drop in public funding support for NGOs.
About half of the almost 400 NGOs that contributed to FRA’s consultation on civic space challenges state that they experienced unexpected reductions, cuts or a complete freeze of funding in the past year, particularly from national governments.