For several months now, right-wing politicians in the European Parliament have been attacking European environmental NGOs because of the subsidies they receive from the European Commission. The financial aid is being contested and bitterly disputed, and officials are determinedly trying to silence the organizations.

At the end of March, the Parliament's Environment Committee will vote on a motion to reject the European Commission's LIFE program, which is designed to support environmental initiatives and of which a tiny part provides funding for Friends of the Earth, BirdLife, FERN and Pesticide Action Network. For many of these NGOs, public funding is crucial. The end of support from Brussels would mean a significant reduction in their ability to work, or would even spell closure.

The current situation is confirmation – if confirmation were needed – that the European Parliament is now steeped in a new atmosphere, in which the far right calls the shots for a good half of the assembly, particularly on environmental issues. Clearly, Donald Trump's election has caused the floodgates to open and widened the spectrum of what is acceptable, including in the Brussels bubble. Since fall, the campaign against environmental NGOs has been waged with a Trumpian mix of disinformation, half-truths and outrageous claims, all feeding a flood of over-the-top indignation about the proper use of public funds.

"While the United States sets out to conquer Mars, the European Union is financing NGOs to conduct lobbying," declared MEP Céline Imart (European People's Party) the day after Trump's inauguration. "€5.5 billion to defame farmers, already burdened by standards that are out of touch with the reality on the ground," she continued. "The left and the Greens, so quick to denounce foreign interference, seem to happily accept the interference of NGOs – particularly environmental NGOs – which are their armed wing and which go out to beat up cops at demonstrations in France."

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