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In recent years, populist radical right parties that openly contest the EU’s liberal consensus have acquired a reputation for restricting the space for civil society. Developing a novel conceptual framework of obstruction, this article examines how actors from the far right and the political mainstream obstruct humanitarian NGOs. We argue that while far right actors do so in a distinctly politicised way, mainstream EU actors and governments seek to obstruct rival NGOs in a depoliticised way, so as to act in line with the EU’s norms and values. Empirically, we test our argument of different styles of obstruction for the case of EU border management in the Central Mediterranean, where NGOs have played an important role in the domain of search and rescue (SAR). Our analysis shows that initially dominated by hardliners, most notably the Italian populist right-wing Conte I government, the obstruction of SAR NGOs politicised EU-NGO relations. Under the more mainstream Conte II government, in turn, obstruction continued but relied on a more depoliticised approach. In addition, EU institutions as well as other mainstream governments in relevant flag states such as Germany or the Netherlands also resorted to similar obstruction strategies.

Shrinking the space for civil society: (De)Politicizing the obstruction of humanitarian NGOs in EU border management