The European Green Party expresses its support for German and European non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are under attack from an aggressive campaign led by the European People’s Party (EPP) and its German member party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Yesterday, Der Spiegel revealed that the Friedrich Merz and other CDU/CSU members of the German parliament have submitted an inquiry into the ‘political neutrality of state-supported organisations’ that participated in the protests against the far-right.  

The inquiry consists of 551 intrusive questions directed at organisations such as Omas gegen Rechts, BUND, Greenpeace, independent media outlets such as Correctiv, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Right-wing or conservative NGOs are conspicuously absent from the request.  

Following Friedrich Merz’s breach of the firewall against the far right, thousands of protesters in Germany took to the streets. Merz called them “left-wing nutcases” last Saturday. A petition against the CDU's request for an investigation has reached more than 100.000 signatures.

Earlier this month, Monika Hohlmeier, a member of the European Parliament for the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), threatened to cut off funding for environmental NGOs at the European level.  

Vula Tsetsi, co-chair of the European Green Party, responds:

"On the first day after the German elections, the CDU's motion in the German parliament follows the same pattern as the EPP's attempts to intimidate, discredit and defund NGOs at the European level. These attempts at censorship undermine civil society's ability to hold politicians accountable. Civil society is fighting for the survival of our climate and our democracy, and in these turbulent times their voices are needed more than ever."

Ciarán Cuffe, co-chair of the European Green Party, said:

‍"Singling out the NGOs, as the European People’s Party and CDU are doing, is unjustified and deeply worrying. NGOs and civil society must be able to work independently, without political interference. We don't want the EPP to become some kind of Orwellian thought police, telling civil society what to think.”