BRUSSELS — At the beginning of October, at the end of a long day, in a meeting room off the main thoroughfare inside the European Parliament, a small group met to try to revive an idea: The creation of a single market for European philanthropy.
The free movement of capital is enshrined in the treaties that form the legal basis for the European Union. But on Oct. 1, Sven Giegold, a German Greens member of the European Parliament, told the audience of around 50 civil society actors, MEPs, and officials from the European Commission that while the law facilitates pan-European companies, charitable organizations fare much worse.
He cited examples of European NGOs and foundations that struggle to attract funding from outside their home country because supporters elsewhere in the EU cannot make donations that are counted as tax-deductible.