Green EU Propaganda?
The EU is putting millions of dollars in funds towards advocacy in Indonesia aimed shifting opinion on EU policy in Indonesia.
EU Commission approves EUR2.5 million of public campaign spending in Indonesia covering EU policies such as the EU Deforestation Regulation.
Grants are to target “Influential groups, organisations and individuals that are able to shape both the public as well as the official government opinions on important and specifically sensitive issues.”
The approach includes “Engage in social media to directly reach target audience.”
The EU also commissions EUR 12 million in spending on ‘technical assistance’ for Indonesian stakeholders on EU Green Deal policies – which includes communications outreach components.
So, the question for Brussels is: how much is the EU trying to influence Indonesia and Malaysia when it comes to the Green Deal and the Deforestation Regulation?
The Wrong Path?
The Terpercaya and Kami projects are funded by the European Commission to ‘assist’ Indonesia and Malaysia.
But are the funds helping?
The bulk of the funds go to the EU-based European Forest Institute (EFI), which manages the projects for the European Commission.
The EFI has been the EU’s main partner in implementing VPA FLEGT agreements and has been paid more than EUR 4.5 million to run the Tepercaya and Kami programs across Indonesia and Malaysia.
They have led a ‘jurisdictional approach’. It has told stakeholders the approach will help meet EU requirements on deforestation. But the EU has now made it clear that the jurisdictional approach won’t apply to the Deforestation Regulation.
Have the EU and EFI been honest in their dealings with palm oil stakeholders?