New EU rules that prevent access to parliament by organisations based outside Brussels have been reversed, thanks to a campaign by the National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s (NCVO) Eurogroup.

The new rules were discovered when several charities had their permanent passes to the parliament questioned or rejected. These passes enabled them to meet MEPs, attend committees and watch sessions without any restrictions. However, EU enlargement and rising visitor numbers resulted in passes being restricted to organisations with an office in one of the three cities where the Parliament has a seat: Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg.

A letter was sent to the director of the EU Parliament Office in the UK, English MEPs and the vice president of the European Commission, in which the charities argued that the rules were unfairly biased against them as they did’t have the funds to employ Brussels-based consultants. The campaign was supported by the Brussels-based civil society lobbying network, Act4Europe, and a commitment was secured to revert the ruling back to its former status.

Nolan Quigley, NCVO’s European and International officer, said: “We are delighted that the EU Parliament has decided to abandon this rule which penalised voluntary sector organisations. UK-based voluntary sector campaigners are increasingly making their voices heard effectively on a wide range of issues on which the Parliament has voting powers, and this shows that campaigning at EU level can produce results.”

It is hoped that charities will have similar success with another campaign currently under way to ensure that EU funding levels are not cut.

The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA), the NCVO, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and the Third Sector European Network (TSEN) are working together to call on EU leaders to ensure that when the EU budget for the next seven years is agreed, funding levels will not be reduced.

They are to release a joint position paper tomorrow, Towards a Vision for the Future of Structural Funds, which will highlight how the sector is utilising Structural Funds to contribute to the goals of social inclusion and employment.

Lisa McElherron, public affairs manager at NICVA, said: “The voluntary sector is actively contributing to the goals of employment and inclusion using structural funds as we are particularly good at reaching isolated individuals and communities. We believe that while the Structural Funds should be focussed on the most disadvantaged member states in Eastern Europe, they should a the same time remain available to the original 15 member states, including the UK, in significant proportions.”