How NGOs Die: Europe's Playbook for Dismantling Democracy
A coordinated assault on civil society is unfolding across Europe with surgical precision, warns Alberto Alemanno, a new EUobserver columnist.
The playbook used to dismantle democracy is brutally efficient and consists of five steps:
- Fabricate a scandal
- Delegitimise and defund organisations, making them dependent on philanthropic support
- Criminalise their new funding as foreign influence
all while continuing to demand NGOs monitor consumer protections that governments refuse to fund themselves
This assault is happening across Europe, from Brussels to Budapest, from Bratislava to Sofia, with EU institutions and national governments working together to eliminate independent organisations that stand between corporate power and the public interest.
Author's summary: Europe's democracy is under attack through a coordinated assault on civil society.