AgoraEU and Justice programmes

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the Commission’s proposals for the AgoraEU and Justice programmes, and urges the European Parliament and Council to endorse the proposals without reducing the proposed financial envelope;

• calls for explicit recognition of advocacy as a core part of civil society organisations’ (CSOs) work and their role in policymaking to strengthen democracy and resilience;

• recommends introducing operating grants across all AgoraEU strands to reinforce CSOs’ institutional stability, and it requests extending operating grants under the Justice programme to non-profit organisations of general European interest;

• supports maintaining financial support to third parties (FSTP) via intermediary organisations to reach smaller or grassroots groups, and calls for ensuring the independence of intermediaries and the compliance of their governance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as key eligibility criteria in their selection. The EESC also requests clarity on co-financing rates, proposing up to 100% EU funding for intermediaries and final beneficiaries implementing delegated activities;

• notes the need to adapt the Creative Europe Desks’ mandate and resources to effectively support AgoraEU’s broader scope across cultural, media, and civic sectors;

• calls for flexibility and safeguards (e.g. indexation, corrective mechanisms) in lump-sum and multiannual grants to prevent financial strain on beneficiaries;

• seeks clarity on synergies between the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the Media+ strand of AgoraEU; and it urges the Commission to connect grant recipients and develop an action plan to operationalise combined and cumulative funding under both Regulations, including joint calls, DG cooperation, and performance monitoring;

• recommends strengthening the focus on victims’ rights and access to justice in the Justice programme, including funding for support networks, practitioner training, and cross-border legal aid;

• calls for addressing intra-EU funding disparities, particularly the East–West divide, in both programmes;

• regrets the removal of the Civil Dialogue Working Group from the AgoraEU Regulation and urges its reinstatement;

• emphasises that programme impact depends on adequate national infrastructure and co-funding, and proposes linking access to EU shared management funds to Member States’ demonstrated support for AgoraEU and Justice objectives.