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SOLIDAR Foundation for Humanitarian, Development and European Cooperation

SOLIDAR Foundation

SOLIDAR organises its work for lifelong and life-wide learning through the SOLIDAR Foundation for progressive education and citizenry participation.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Vicente Hurtado Roa (Head of Unit Taxation and Customs Union)

25 Sept 2025 · Discussion on how to make the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) fairer and socially just, balancing industrial competitiveness with climate justice in Europe and globally

Meeting with Leire Pajín (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Sept 2025 · Exchange of Views on EU's external action and development cooperation policy

Response to EU Civil Society Strategy

5 Sept 2025

Civil Society plays a vital role in democratic checks and balances advancing fundamental rights, contributing to social inclusion, and ensuring that policies reflect the voices and diversity of our societies and marginalised communities. Yet across the EU and beyond, conditions of civic space for civil society organisations (CSOs) are deteriorating. EU-level networks like SOLIDAR, including our national level members and many other CSOs, face an increasingly hostile environment. We are now witnessing a shrinking civic space marked by restrictions on participation in policy-making, dis- and misinformation, smear campaigns, reduced funding opportunities, and a general decline in fundamental freedoms. Without an enabling environment for civil society, we cannot effectively safeguard European values, contribute to democratic resilience, and social cohesion. SOLIDAR has long called for an EU Civil Society Strategy, alongside networks like Civil Society Europe and CONCORD. SOLIDAR welcomes the Commissions commitment to develop one, provided it is informed by CSOs lived realities and strengthens their protection, engagement, and support. The strategy must proactively involve civil society in its design, implementation, and monitoring. Engagement: Structured Civil Dialogue and Participation Article 11 TEU requires EU institutions to maintain open, transparent dialogue with civil society, yet participation remains fragmented and inconsistent. Online consultations and hearings are often limited to information-sharing, while national practices vary widely. Many key policy decisions are still taken without structured consultation, including in social rights, migration, and education. Barriers such as capacity, language, and access to information further exclude marginalised groups. SOLIDAR calls for institutionalised civil dialogue at all levels, including: A permanent EU Civil Society Platform for structured, transversal and vertical dialogue. Making civil society engagement a condition in EU enlargement, requiring candidate countries to involve CSOs in policymaking. Improving access for grassroots and marginalised groups, with clear feedback mechanisms and mainstreaming equality across decision-making. Strengthening GCE as a cross-cutting EU priority to cultivate democratic participation. Protection: Safeguarding Civic Space Despite positive steps such as the Rule of Law Reports and Anti-SLAPP Directive, threats to CSOs and human rights defenders persist. Our national members have continued to report through SOLIDARs Social Rights Monitor attacks, criminalisation and delegitimisation of grassroots organisations, social movements, human rights defenders, and CSOs. Particularly those advocating for marginalised groups and communities are often subjected to systematic pressure. SOLIDAR calls for an EU-wide Protection Mechanism to: Provide coordinated monitoring, early-warning, and fast-track responses to civic space restrictions. Ensure robust enforcement of anti-SLAPP laws and accountability for state repression. Protect CSOs providing humanitarian aid, including for undocumented or displaced persons. Support and overall Environment Civil society remains structurally underfunded, with burdensome procedures disproportionately harming small-scale CSOs and grassroots. Recent political attacks on CSO advocacy at EU and national level, alongside funding cuts to international cooperation, further erode independence and civic space. SOLIDAR calls on the EU to: Carry out systematic civic space impact assessments for all legislative proposals. Guarantee strong structural support in the next MFF, including increased funding for CERV (0.5% of EU budget), simplified procedures, and eligibility for advocacy. Recognise advocacy and campaigning as core democratic activities across all funding streams and promote positive EU-wide narratives on civil society to counter disinformation and delegitimisation.
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Meeting with Ana Vasconcelos (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Jun 2025 · LAT

Meeting with Heléne Fritzon (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Apr 2025 · Civilsamhället

Meeting with Catalin Gheran (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu) and SOLIDAR

1 Apr 2025 · The convergence of social policy, environment and economy

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament) and European Movement International

10 Mar 2025 · Event: Digitalisation and democracy

Meeting with Delara Burkhardt (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Dec 2024 · Just transition in palmoil sector

Meeting with Lynn Boylan (Member of the European Parliament) and Friends of the Earth Europe

10 Dec 2024 · Deforestation, just transition and workers' rights in Indonesia

Meeting with Thomas Waitz (Member of the European Parliament) and Dreikönigsaktion der Katholischen Jungschar Österreichs

29 Nov 2023 · Pesticides Export

Meeting with Udo Bullmann (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

23 Mar 2023 · Agenda 2030 mid-term, the role of NGOs in the SDG implementation process

Meeting with Mónica Silvana González (Member of the European Parliament)

17 Mar 2021 · Indigenous People

Meeting with Mónica Silvana González (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

25 Sept 2020 · The impact of climate change on vulnerable population in developing countries

Meeting with Mónica Silvana González (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

22 Sept 2020 · The impact of climate change on vulnerable population in developing countries