Centre-right has renounced Green Deal, claims Timmermans
Despite this shift, Timmermans remains optimistic, urging politicians to reignite a fresh sense of optimism, pointing to promising trends across Europe.
Radio Schuman featured the press point with some insights on the far-right and the Green deal.
We also discuss today's agenda and how running is igniting a new trend in tourism.
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Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
Taxpayer group calls for criminal probes of two ex-Commissioners
An EU taxpayer interest group has filed criminal complaints with German domestic prosecutors and the EU Public Prosecutor's Office in Luxembourg against former EU commissioners Frans Timmermans and Virginius Sinkevicius, calling for the pair to be investigated for alleged unlawful payments to NGOs. Both served under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's first mandate between 2019 and 2024. Dutchman Timmermans was Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Climate Action while Sinkevicius – who's now an MEP - was Commissioner for Environment and Oceans. The complaints were filed this week by the Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE), a federation of national European taxpayers associations and organisations based in Munich and Brussels. 'There are suspicions that payments may have been made illegally,' according to a statement by the TAE. 'We therefore call for public prosecutors to investigate whether applicable law and the EU's principles of transparency and separation of powers have been violated,' the statement said, adding, 'If funds were transferred without appropriate oversight or involvement of other EU institutions, this would be an unacceptable violation of applicable law.' The complaint relates to media reports alleging that the former EU Commission 'financed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with substantial sums without transparently disclosing these decisions or adequately explaining them,' TAE President Michael Jäger is cited as saying in the statement. 'We are also concerned with clarifying the general criminal liability of Commission officials for the EU's budgetary assets. A legal vacuum must not arise. Because all Europeans are equal before the law,' the statement said. German media reports on NGO funding German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag claimed in June that the EU executive had secretly paid environmental NGOs up to €700,000 to promote the bloc's climate policy. The Commission denied the allegations of secret payments and a spokesperson told Euronews that the executive exercises a high degree of transparency when it comes to providing funding to NGOs. Last month, three right-wing political groups sought unsuccessfully to establish an investigative committee on the issue at the European Parliament. Instead, the Parliament's political leaders agreed to form a working group within the Committee on Budgetary Control to scrutinise how the Commission funds non-governmental organisations. Meanwhile Transparency International EU director Nick Aiossa told Euronews that the claims of NGO's shadow-lobbying for the Commission have already been debunked. "These are already debunked stories that were circulated in February," said Aiossa, adding, "I simply don't understand why the German press would jump on this, unless, of course, it has a more political agenda behind it from the people who are leaking the contracts." Aiossa said that Commission funding of civil society to participate in public debate is a good thing, that a small circle of right-wing MEPs was responsible for leaking sensitive data to the press, and that Transparency would be filing a legal complaint on the issue. The Welt allegations first surfaced in February, and in April a parliamentary committee voted down a raft of amendments from right-wing lawmakers seeking to incorporate sharp criticism of EU funding for non-governmental organisations into the discharge of the bloc's 2023 budget. The allegations concerned EU funding for environmental NGOs through the LIFE operating grants. These are part of the EU's LIFE programme, a €5.4 billion budget (2021–2027) aimed at financing projects related to green innovation, circular economy, energy efficiency, nature conservation, and pollution reduction. Around €15.6 million of this is allocated to environmental NGOs via operating grants and under this scheme, individual organisations may receive up to €700,000 annually. Grants are awarded through open calls with clear eligibility criteria and NGOs are evaluated not by the Commission directly but by agencies such as, in the case of LIFE , the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Advocacy through lobbying is permitted but not required or directed under the grants. Each grant includes the disclaimer that 'views and opinions expressed' by NGOs 'do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.' Grant conditions are public, and there is no requirement that applicants align their objectives with Commission interests to receive funding. Court of Auditors described funding system as 'opaque' In short, NGOs retain full autonomy over how they use the money, within legal and contractual boundaries. They are subject to transparency rules, must uphold EU values, and are routinely audited. If they fail to implement their work programmes, funding can be withdrawn. While much of the oversight relies on self-reporting – one of the main pitfalls of the system – the Commission is enhancing its risk-based verification following advice from the European Court of Auditors. In April 2025, the EU auditors labelled the Commission's funding process as 'opaque' and warned of potential reputational risks. However, it found no evidence during a year-long probe of any wrongdoing by either NGOs or European Commission officials. As a result, the Commission last year issued new guidance to prevent EU funding from being used for direct lobbying of EU institutions following these concerns. Jäger told Euronews that he expected to hear preliminary responses from the two prosecutors offices within around three months indicating whether they would consider investigating. According to the TAE, separate criminal complaints have also been filed in Austria in relation to the issue. The Commission, Timmermans and Sinkevicius have been contacted for comment.
France 24
11-07-2025
- France 24
Can the EU's Clean Industrial Deal deliver for Europeans? Juggling competitiveness and green goals
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. The Green Deal is often seen as the flagship project of the previous EU mandate. But after last year's European elections, in which right-wing parties performed well, the Green Deal was rebranded as the Clean Industrial Deal. There is now more emphasis on industrial revival and competitiveness. MEPs and members of the European Commission say the EU should not have to choose between re-industrialisation and meeting climate objectives, but rather do both. Officially, the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050 remains. In practice, though, how to strike that balance is a bone of contention between competing political forces in the European Union. We dive into what's at stake with two MEPs. Programme prepared by Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero
Euronews
10-07-2025
- Euronews
How von der Leyen's confidence vote has torn Conservative group apart
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) has been most impacted of all European Parliament groups by the vote of no-confidence tabled against von der Leyen's European Commission, and is fundamentally divided over the issue. The Conservatives are split between those voting in favour and against the motion of censure, while all the other groups of the Parliament are more or less following a common line. Within ECR, Romanians from ultra-nationalist party AUR and Polish from Law and Justice (PiS) are among the signatories of the motion of censure, consistent with their custom of being strongly critical of von der Leyen and her college. The largest party of the group, Brothers of Italy, will vote against the motion, as Nicola Procaccini, the Italian MEP who is also co-president of the group, made clear during his intervention in the plenary debate on the no-confidence vote. Procaccini not only labelled the motion of censure as a 'mistake' and a 'political gift to our opponents', but he also launched an outright attack on the proponents, targeting his fellow MEPs from PiS and AUR. 'Take out your pop-corn', he said, before starting his scathing intervention towards his own colleagues. 'Why [have] several of today's signatories [of the motion] never presented a motion of censure against the previous von der Leyen commission, that produced the Green Deal and the so-called Pfizergate? [...]. Obviously I know the answer,' he said, in what seems a dig to the PiS' lawmakers, who never tried to topple Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture during the previous term and a member of their party. Italian group leader leveled veiled swipes at fellow group members In the same speech, Procaccini seemed to attack the Romanian party AUR, whose candidate for presidency George Simion has recently lost the runoff against Nicușor Dan. 'Unfortunately, someone likes to lose both at home and here. I do not,' he said, clearly stating that he wants to keep on 'building majorities' in the Parliament. This speech deeply upset some ECR delegations, several internal sources from the group told Euronews. Some MEPs believe that Procaccini's words could have been dictated directly by Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister who is also Brothers of Italy's leader, said one source. During the first months of the new Parliament's legislature, the ECR group sought closer cooperation with the European People's Party (EPP), achieving support to green light the appointment of vice-president Raffaele Fitto and winning some significant votes in the Chamber. This strategy was endorsed by Procaccini in his plenary speech, but not all ECR MEPs are on board with it. 'Who gave him the mandate to negotiate with the EPP?' asked one source, arguing that a new majority in the European Parliament would be possible only with a radical change and with a new president of the Commission. Another source from the group confirmed that the speech irritated the Polish delegation, because Procaccini should not have attacked his partners, being the only one allowed to take the floor for his group. In the plenary, ECR's co-president claimed to speak 'on behalf of the two thirds' of the Conservatives, suggesting that the majority of ECR's delegations will vote against the motion of censure. But the text of the no-confidence vote included the signatures of MEPs from Romania, Poland, Estonia, Greece and Lithuania. French, Danish and Croatian delegations would probably join the vote in favour of no-confidence. According to a source, up to 50 MEPs of ECR's 79 members could end up backing the motion of censure, which would mean a strong setback for Procaccini's leadership. A third source considered that the motion of censure itself already spells 'big trouble' for the group, as it displays divisions and puts Italian and Polish delegations at odds. However all of the people who spoke to Euronews agree on the fact that it will not lead the group to collapse. 'It is like an old couple, where the partners know each other very well and they know that staying together would be better than alone,' said one source.
