Bought off by Brussels

A letter appeared in the Independent a few weeks ago signed by various environmentalist grandees — heads of green lobby groups, former chairmen of eco-quangos and the like. It warned against Brexit on the grounds that EU laws had ‘a hugely positive effect’ on the environment. It didn’t explain why a post-EU Britain wouldn’t retain, replicate or even improve these ‘hugely positive’ laws. As usual, it implied that voters needed to have such things dictated to them.

The really interesting thing, though, was the list of bodies that followed the signatories’ names: Natural England, the Green Alliance, the RSPB, the Natural Environment Research Council, a couple of universities — you get the picture. A cursory Google search revealed that, of the 12 organisations listed, eight were getting grants directly from the EU. This fact was curiously omitted from the accompanying news story.

Those who want out of the EU sometimes fret that Brussels might firehose money at Britain’s pro-EU campaign, but it doesn’t need to, not directly. Eurocrats are savvy enough to realise that British voters would bridle at having their own taxes spent on telling them how to vote. So, in general, they prefer to launder sponsorship through supposedly independent third parties.

It makes sense. Suppose you were to hear a Eurocrat claiming on the radio that EU regulations were good for, say, cyclists. Your immediate reaction, I suspect, would be: ‘Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?’ But if you heard the same argument from an EU-funded pressure group, you might assume that it was disinterested and therefore authoritative. And BBC presenters are not in the habit of pointing out when their interviewees are taking Brussels’ moolah.

Hundreds of millions of euros are handed out every year, not just to mega–charities and pressure groups but to think tanks, multi-nationals, local councils and all manner of NGOs.