The Case for Europe’s Backing of Digital Civil Society Groups

Mark Scott is a contributing editor at Tech Policy Press.

The European Union is gearing up to splash its cash.

The European Commission announced proposals on July 16 — collectively worth €1.8 trillion between 2028 and 2034 — that would fund everything from weapons to Ukraine and subsidies for European farmers to investments in next-generation technologies and the 27-country bloc’s foreign policy ambitions.

“Our new long-term budget will help protect European citizens, strengthen Europe's social model and make our European industry thrive,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said in a statement. “In a time of geopolitical instability, the budget will allow Europe to shape its own destiny.”

Those lofty ambitions will inevitably be challenged during the next two years of negotiations before the EU’s so-called Multiannual Financial Framework, or seven-year bloc-wide budget, comes into force in early 2028. EU member countries must agree unanimously to any deal, and many are skeptical about proposed increases in the bloc’s collective budget.

For Brussels to meet its political aspirations, policymakers need to double down on support for independent groups that underpin the EU’s hope to jumpstart the bloc’s sluggish economy, position Europe as a global competitor to the United States and China, and champion people’s fundamental rights that are increasingly challenged online.

That involves unlocking millions — if not billions — of euros from European taxpayers over the bloc’s next seven-year budget cycle to directly fund organizations working on digital rights, online trust and safety, fact-checking, independent media, internet governance, and the detection of foreign interference.

Taken together, these six associated digital-focused communities represent the frontline of Europe’s so-called “Third Way.”

That strategy blends US-style capitalism with EU-borne regulation to protect individuals’ fundamental rights, safeguard the bloc’s rule of law, and unleash Europe’s industrial competitiveness. The EU’s approach stands in contrast to China’s authoritarianism, which now extends into the online world, as well as a gradual backsliding on many digital policymaking norms from Donald Trump’s White House.

With society increasingly shifting online, these independent groups are now central to Europe’s ambitions of offering an alternative to both the US and China, while setting an example for other democratic countries that rights-based digital governance and economic competitiveness can go hand-in-hand.

Yet many of these digital-focused organizations, which span civil rights nonprofits to fact-checking groups to internet governance institutions, have been hard hit by the US government’s generational pullback in financial support that was worth, collectively, billions of dollars. These groups are active within the 27-country bloc, in fellow Western countries, and across the so-called Global Majority.

For decades, Washington had shouldered a disproportionate share of funding to promote global digital rights, free expression, and an open and interoperable internet.

The White House’s abrupt ending of this support — in the name of reducing government spending and shifting toward a “Make America Great Again” ethos — has put in jeopardy the long-term viability of digital groups, independent media, and online trust and safety programs that both protect people’s fundamental rights and are fundamental for a well-functioning digital economy.

It is time for Brussels and EU member capitals to put their money where their mouths are.

If European officials truly believe that digital rulemaking and a robust economy can work in tandem, they need to step into the void left by the recent pullback by their US counterparts.

Currently, Europe’s financial backing for these six aligned digital-focused initiatives is too bureaucratic, too small, and too slow to meet the challenges that await the bloc and its allies over the next decade.

Existing funding programs, such as Horizon Europe, whose cash stockpile is expected to double to €175 billion during the EU’s next budget cycle, are often weighed down by administrative hurdles that impede small organizations. Other EU public efforts, including a recent 5 million euro tender to help fact-checking groups affected by Meta’s decision to stop funding such work, are not expected to match what the tech giant had previously earmarked for these organizations.

In its announcement on July 18, the European Commission claimed the upcoming EU-wide budget would streamline the process by which organizations apply for funding.

That includes paring back the soon-to-be doubled Horizon Europe funding program to four key topics like the promotion of “excellent science” and research with “high societal impact,” as defined by the European Commission and EU member countries. That program is also expected to reduce administrative red tape to make it easier to apply for support. Brussels also wants to back so-called “moonshot projects” to make Europe a leader in high-tech and more geopolitically strategic.

Yet merely doubling down on existing funding streams will not achieve Brussels’ triple aim of promoting democratic values internally, reinvigorating the bloc’s economy, and exporting the EU’s “Third Way” to like-minded countries.

Instead, European officials and politicians should use the upcoming EU budget negotiations to rethink how funds are allocated to these digital-focused groups.

New financing structures are needed to provide long-term, flexible funds that allow these groups to adapt quickly to meet evolving policymaking needs. Funding also should be earmarked from the EU’s so-called European Competitiveness Fund, or a €410 billion behemoth that also includes Horizon Europe, aimed at promoting the bloc’s industrial policy. Doubling down on these digital-focused organizations can play a direct role in making the EU more competitive in the cut-throat global economy.

Amid Europe’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis, any new funding mechanisms must be open and transparent to ensure the public’s money is well spent. That is particularly true as many populist politicians across the 27-country bloc now openly question whether any public funds should be used to shore up cash-strapped civil society groups.

Such critics argue the EU should not back independent organizations whose interests may not always align with politicians’ short-term priorities.

But if Brussels is committed to its public goals of revamping the bloc’s internal economy, promoting fundamental rights, both internally and externally, and upholding the rule of law, then greater and more flexible support for digital groups dedicated to these causes is an investment that will yield significant economic and societal benefits.

The upcoming EU budget negotiations will test the resolve of European officials amid heightened geopolitical tensions and strained public finances. Many worthy priorities — from supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia to providing economic support for marginalized communities — will require sustained public investment.

The next decade will be defined by society’s comprehensive adoption of technology. Europe is on the hook to deliver on both its new digital regulatory rulebook and renewed aspirations to make its economy globally competitive.

Those dual goals can only be achieved via greater flexible, long-term support for digital-focused groups that reinforce Europe’s world-first digital rules at home and amplify like-minded interests abroad.