Today president of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute Žilvinas Šilėnas is testifying in a public hearing on EU budget allocations to NGOs in the European Parliament in Brussels. The hearing has been organised by the EP Budgetary Control Committee.
The Committee, which entrusts NGOs with the pursuit of EU policies, has invited LFMI’s president to express opinion on the implementation of EU policies through non-governmental organisations and the effectiveness of NGO funding.
Last year LFMI presented a study ‘Helping Themselves.’ The authors of the study – Žilvinas Šilėnas and LFMI’s policy analyst Adolfas Mackonis – concluded that lobbying by NGOs for policies they benefit from should be stopped and NGOs should be encouraged to rely more on voluntary donations and support. At the same time the EU should broaden the range of organisations it works with and should become more transparent about about they way it spends taxpayer’s money.
The report was published by New Direction, a Brussels-based think-tank.
