LIFE projects, which began in 1992, support conservation and climate initiatives, with the added objective of updating and developing policy and legislation at the EU level. There have been almost 5.000 projects to date. These projects are not only thoroughly scrutinised and evaluated, but they also demand that results be shared with society and politicians, namely MEPs. These rules were written by the European Commission. The maximum amount of the money said to be used to talk to politicians is 700 thousands euros per year for all of the LIFE projects and all NGOs. Conservatives and the Far-Right are seriously pretending to compare 700.000 € per year they say is used by climate and environmental NGOs to the tens of millions of euros spent yearly by lobbyists successfully shutting down or capturing EU’s climate policy. They don’t want to just water down policy, they want its complete destruction. The new push by the far-right is clear. Nothing can stand in the way of their allies Big Oil, Big Agribusiness companies, Big Tech and others, that hire lobbyists by the thousands in Brussels to shut down all climate and environmental policies. The plan is to silence the voice of any civil society organisation that pushes back against business-as-usual catastrophe. The EU Commission is going along for the ride. Von der Leyen, who has mangled the already impotent EU “Green” Deal beyond recognition, is simply opening the door for the Europe of the far-right and big companies. This is the Europe of climate, social and biodiversity collapse. So, for simply complying to Commission rules, NGOs are accused of lobbying by the Commission itself. This campaign isn’t the end. It is merely the beginning. Conservatives and the far-right want to defund and silence civil society. NGOs are only the first on their list of targets. To follow are trade unions, independent media and any counter-hegemonic collectives that pose significant obstacles to the catastrophic climate collapse - they cannot imagine a future beyond capitalism. What can you do? Don’t play along with the false narrative pushed by conservatives and far-right. They are trying to make all of us powerless. Call out their lie. Join Civil Society: NGOs, movements and collective organisations in your town, your country. They can’t defund participation and commitment! Side Note: Monika Hohlmeier, the MEP spokesperson and rapporteur for this shameless attack on civil society, is herself the recipient of a yearly sum of €75,000 from agri-food business Bay Wa, which receives €6.5 million from the LIFE EU Fund. Hohlmeier has been leading calls to defund NGOs for years now. She is a true champion of lobbys and Big agribusiness.