Following the Money: European Union Funding of Civil Society Organizations

Abstract: This article presents analyses from an original database of 1,164 civil society groups that received funding from the European Commission from 2003 to 2007, compiled from funding documents recently released through the European Transparency Initiative, and identifies the empirical patterns behind Commission funding behaviour. Based on the literature on input legitimacy, one would expect the Commission to seek to achieve balance across Member States and across diffuse and specific interests. Based on the literature on European integration which argues the EU has preferentially supported Euro groups, one would expect the Commission to support groups that promote pan-Europeanism and are organized at the European Union (EU) level.

The data analysis shows that groups which promote a European identity, democracy and civic engagement and intercultural exchange, as well as those that are organized at the EU level, receive stronger support from the Commission. Additionally, groups based in the old Member States of western Europe receive significantly more funding than those in central and eastern Europe. The database is freely available to scholars online.