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A leftwing Hungarian news website published a hit piece on MCC Brussels with a mix of banal and unsubstantiated allegations.
Below is our reply, a letter to the editor.
“Dani Boy and his Dark Fantasies of Life in Brussels”
This fantastic HVG article written by trainee journalist Dani Nandor is a genuine work of creative fiction that somehow manages to turn the most banal aspects of our daily work into crimes against humanity.
Apparently, our first great offense is that… we have an office. Yes, you read that right. An office. In Brussels. The horror! From there, things only get darker. The author is shocked - shocked! - to discover that we sometimes engage with politicians. In Brussels, no less, a city where literally thousands of organizations do exactly that every single day. The idea that this is unusual says less about us and more about the author’s impressive level of journalistic illiteracy.
He’s equally appalled that we occasionally operate inside the European Parliament – as do NGOs, corporations, law firms, and just about anyone with a badge and a half-functioning calendar. Apparently, we should be ashamed of breathing the same air as Members of the European Parliament (and, sometimes we are).
With the investigation turning up nothing, the author is forced to use that old dirty trick of pretending that we somehow have Russian sympathies. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Dani Boy does not let truth get in the way of a dirty smear.
And then comes our greatest scandal of all: our research. It dares - brace yourself - to be critical of EU institutions and international courts. How dare a think tank… think?
To lend academic gravitas to this fever dream, our aspiring reporter invokes the eternal wisdom of David Paternotte, a man best known as a representative of extreme gender ideology who genuinely believes that children are born fully aware of their “true gender identity.” Amusingly, this same “expert” also appears as a source for Antifa publications –a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to close down debate.
Somewhere amid the conspiracy theories, Dani Boy must have forgotten to mention that we occasionally have arguments over breakfast, that our printer sometimes jams, or that we take the metro – all of which, in his logic, could be evidence of sinister coordination.
And isn’t it rich - so very Brussels - that this breathless exposé was written as part of a Transparency International mentoring program funded by none other than George Soros? You couldn’t script the irony any better.
But perhaps the most revealing line of all is buried right there in the article’s own conclusion: “MCC Brussels is not doing anything unusual for a think tank.” Exactly, dear Dani Boy. After several thousand words of melodrama, you’ve managed to confirm that we’re doing precisely what every other think tank in Brussels does.
So thank you for your concern - and for the free publicity. While you continue projecting your political fantasies onto us, we’ll keep doing what we always do: researching, debating, and occasionally laughing over croissants at how seriously you take yourself.
John O’ Brien
Head of Communications
MCC Brussels
