Who Still Holds the Lion’s Share? Funding Concentration, Shrinking Access and the Narrowing Space for Civil Society

This report provides an analysis of EUR 26.4 billion in EU external action programming under NDICI–Global Europe (2021–2025), examining how funding architecture, management modalities and programme design shape civil society organisations’ access to EU resources.

Drawing exclusively on publicly available European Commission data, the analysis maps the distribution of funding across management modes, implementing actors and thematic envelopes. Key findings indicate that indirect management – now accounting for 62% of the reviewed budget – concentrates decision-making authority within pillar-assessed organisations, creating structural barriers to direct CSO participation. Explicit CSO allocations represent just 10% of reviewed funding, while 70% of the budget carries no traceable data on downstream recipients.

The report identifies a systemic misalignment between the EU’s stated commitment to civil society engagement and the operational realities of its funding mechanisms. As geographic programmes absorb the largest share of programmable resources, CSOs remain largely dependent on thematic envelopes, a narrower and less flexible funding base that limits their engagement across the full spectrum of EU external action priorities.

With the next Multiannual Financial Framework under preparation, the report sets out targeted recommendations on minimum funding allocations, proportionate access mechanisms, and disaggregated reporting standards to improve traceability and accountability across the funding architecture.