European Party Funding Observatory

TL:DR: the European Party Funding Observatory provides citizens with much-needed transparency on European political parties. We need your support to develop it further! → epfo.eu

Democracy is not simply the choice of our political leaders every few years at the ballot box. It’s that, of course, but also much more: democracy is a process through which citizens actively contribute to the political landscape via their input and engagement, and where political actors, in turn, respond to citizens.
Democracy therefore requires continuous, two-way interactions between citizens and their parties and elected officials. Political parties, in particular, are cornerstones of representative democracy and allow us to carry political projects beyond individual endeavours and personalities.
For these interactions, citizens should, at least, know the parties that speak and decide in their name. At the European level, there can therefore be no real European democracy without meaningful interactions between citizens and their European parties, and without citizens knowing the bare minimum about these parties.

As citizens remain unaware of their common European parties, and in the absence of significant action by European institutions, the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung developed the European Party Funding Observatory, which aims at advancing the study of European parties by making data transparent and accessible to all.
Our Observatory gives researchers the tools to discuss and analyse European parties. It gives journalists material to understand and write about European parties. It gives decision-makers concrete facts to inform their reform of the European party system. It helps citizens get acquainted with their political parties.

Developed with limited private funding, the Observatory is up and running for all to enjoy and benefit from. No ads, no fees.

We now seek additional funding to build on the current Observatory and strengthen it with much-needed features. Among these: 

Donations will go directly and exclusively to the development of these additional features — no salaries or staff expense reimbursements. Work is expected to begin within a few months of the Observatory’s initial launch, and to complete within six months.