{"id":11682,"date":"2026-04-16T02:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/11682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:13:10","slug":"orbans-favorite-brussels-think-tank-may-be-down-but-its-not-out-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/11682\/","title":{"rendered":"Orb\u00e1n\u2019s favorite Brussels think tank may be down, but it\u2019s not out \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Armed with a strong parliamentary majority, Magyar \u2014\u00a0whose new administration is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/peter-magyar-hungary-election-brussels-ties-reset-eu-funding\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">eyeing a reset<\/a> of its relationship with Brussels \u2014 has promised to decimate the previous government\u2019s cozy relationship with conservative think tanks, and clamp down on state funding to the network of right-wing groups that flourished under his predecessor. This includes MCC Brussels\u2019 parent organization, Mathias Corvinus Collegium, the Budapest-based educational institution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/brussels-hungary-think-tank-viktor-orban-breaking-europe-climate-consensus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">controlled by close political allies<\/a> of Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state is not going to finance CPAC [Conservative Political Action Conference] events, or Mathias Corvinus Collegium institutions \u2026 I think this was a criminal offense, party financing mixed up with government expenditures,\u201d Magyar said on Monday. \u201cThe future authorities will have to examine or investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MCC Brussels \u2014\u00a0seen by many in the city as a mouthpiece of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government, although it maintains it is politically independent \u2014\u00a0is one of the EU\u2019s loudest and most controversial detractors. Its survival would represent the resilience of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s values within the heart of the EU.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/10766263-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8281892\"  \/>Frank Furedi, who is now MCC Brussels executive director and believes the organization will continue despite the change of government, speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest in May 2022. | Tibor Illyes\/EPA<\/p>\n<p>Since its founding four years ago, the think tank established itself as a leading voice on the European right, co-hosting events with the far-right Patriots group on gender, migration and election interference and spearheading a push to cut EU cash for NGOs, chalking up a win earlier this year when the European Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/euroskeptic-think-tanks-on-rise-as-brussel-slashes-funding-pro-eu-groups\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">slashed<\/a> funding for pro-European think tanks.<\/p>\n<p>Those groups don\u2019t see the think tank leaving quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see them disappearing from the Brussels scene,\u201d said Petros Fassoulas, secretary general at the European Movement International, a pro-European think tank. \u201cThey see themselves as part of this wider movement, both intellectual and political.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armed with a strong parliamentary majority, Magyar \u2014\u00a0whose new administration is eyeing a reset of its relationship with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,1289,326,3594,938,57],"class_list":["post-11682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-hungarian-elections-2026","tag-hungary","tag-ngos","tag-peter-magyar","tag-viktor-orban"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116411970658095393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}