Romeo Kodra used to work as an evaluator for two of the European Commission’s multi-million-euro funding programmes. An expert in art management, he spent many years grading individual project proposals as part of a multi-tiered evaluation process, eventually earning the position of senior expert.
He began to believe he was unwittingly taking part in an elaborate “circus” when he noticed that a project he had evaluated as unworthy of an EU grant received almost €2 million anyway. He confronted the Commission repeatedly to find out if they had involved him in a fraud, and to ask if the decisions about funding projects are ultimately made by nameless bureaucrats despite the hired experts’ opinion.
The evaluation process, he told me, is long and expensive and involves many different experts from all around the continent. Is it all a sham?
The project in question involved a municipality of a major European city, so perhaps there were some political favours being granted. Whatever the case, Romeo, who is from Albania, did not sign up for this. His name is ultimately attached to that particular project grant, and the Commission will not let him see the final report in order to verify if, or in what way, his evaluation was altered to make the proposal “pass” the threshold to make it eligible for the money.
Who really makes the decisions? To what extent is the EU funding evaluation process an elaborate facade?
One of the ways the gender machine has been kept tanked up on cash is via funding for LGBTIQ+ organisations and projects, from multi-million euro annual grants to NGOs, to smaller grants to individual projects that help seep gender nonsense into every facet of European life. If you take a look at the NGO landscape in the EU, you may notice that there is an inordinate number of non-profits dedicated explicitly to promoting various flavours of sexual identity labels. Why? Perhaps it’s because the people who run the NGOs and the people who sign off on their grants are buddies. They don’t even hide it. The LGBTIQ+ staff committee inside the Brussels bureaucracy proudly advertises its membership of ILGA-Europe, the very same organisation that lobbies the very same staff for money.
It’s not a good look, but these grifters fear nobody and nothing.
Disheartened with the whole process, and angry that he got roped into this complicated and expensive legitimacy-theatre, Romeo belatedly followed in his father’s footsteps and now drives a bus for a living. In our conversation we also talked about postmodernism and Brussels’ cultural imperialism, among other stuff.
Enjoy.
Do you think it matters that sex is being replaced by self-declaration of something called ‘gender identity’? I do, and I was fired for it. I made a bet that other people care about it too. So this newsletter is my new job. If you think my work is important, please take out a paid subscription.
Show notes (AI generated)
Guest: Romeo Kodra
The conversation began after Róisín came across Romeo’s LinkedIn article describing his experience as an EU expert evaluator.
🔗 LinkedIn Article
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/anyone-considering-working-eu-expert-european-commission-romeo-kodra-zqsef
🔗 LinkedIn Profile
https://www.linkedin.com/in/romeo-kodra/
European Creative Rooftop Network
The project at the centre of Romeo’s concerns.
“It’s the project number 616805.”
🔗 Creative Europe Project Results
🔗 ecrn.city
The Transparent Elephant Rule
Romeo repeatedly refers to an unpublished book project that grew out of his investigation.
“It will be about a book called... The Transparent Elephant Rule.”
No public manuscript or publication could be located.
European Ombudsman
Romeo describes escalating his concerns through the Ombudsman’s office.
🔗 European Ombudsman
https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/
🔗 Emily O’Reilly
https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/emily-oreilly
European Court of Auditors
Referenced by Romeo as part of his efforts to seek accountability.
🔗 https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/office/staff/en/50733
OLAF
The European Anti-Fraud Office.
🔗
https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/
European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO)
Referenced during discussion of prosecutors and referrals.
🔗
https://www.eppo.europa.eu/
Franz Kafka
🔗 Franz Kafka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka
🔗 The Trial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial
Jacques Derrida
Referenced during discussion of culture, power, and colonisation.
🔗 All Culture Is Originally Colonial: Derrida, Algeria and the Latin Empire
https://mideast.wisc.edu/event/all-culture-is-originally-colonial-derrida-algeria-and-the-latin-empire/
Paolo Virno
🔗 Paolo Virno
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/V/P/au26274433.html
