Roman Petrla

🚨⁉️Did MCC Brussels help destroy the EU's propaganda funding for pro-EU think tanks and NGOs? A revelatory report in Politico has linked the sudden funding cut for a host of pro-EU think tanks to MCC Brussels' extensive investigations into how the EU channels money into propaganda. "European think tanks say they’re having to scale back their activities or lay off staff since the Commission scrapped a large chunk of their funding last year; the funding shortfall amounts to €7.8 million, according to French news outlet L’Informé. The funding cut came months after conservative organisations, including MCC Brussels, complained that cash was being spent on “EU propaganda” that went only to groups that promoted the bloc’s “vision of deeper European integration.” The report, noting that funding under the EU's CERV programme went "often, although not exclusively... to groups with a pro-European stance", quotes pro-EU figures who attribute the funding cut to it becoming "“politically more difficult to justify the funding” to pro-EU organisations". As MCC Brussels revealed in its reports, pro-EU think tanks were receiving MILLIONS of euros to support their work, including cash for "core costs" like staff salaries. We exposed how the EU was using the funding to promote those aligned with EU Commission priorities. Now these organisations are left scrambling after the EU refused to continue the arrangement. This is a welcome development, but in reality the funding for prominent pro-EU think tanks is but the tip of the iceberg. The EU has a whole host of programmes beyond CERV, such as the "research" programme Horizon Europe, which it uses to channel money to its ideological supporters. At the same time, there is an attempt to create a panic around the involvement of MAGA-aligned organisations in European affairs. Yet as we are quoted in the piece, “There was little concern from the European Commission or affiliated organizations and think tanks when progressive NGOs in Europe received substantial support from the United States (including via USAID and other programs). Only now, when funding may reach their political opponents, is it being framed as ‘foreign interference”. You can read our studies on the EU's funding regime on our website (links below).

The USSR made "racial or national exclusivity, hatred, or contempt" a crime in 1936. Sweden passed a similar law in 1948.