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This incisive report shines a light on the true nature of the Jean Monnet Programme – a €25 million-a-year soft-power scheme that pays academics to promote EU ideology, align research with Brussels’s priorities, and marginalise dissent under the guise of ‘European studies’. This is not a neutral academic initiative, but a powerful instrument for embedding pro-EU propaganda.
It reveals how this programme has evolved to systematically push the EU’s political priorities and integrationist agenda into classrooms and society.
Discover how millions of euros are channelled annually to universities worldwide, transforming academic research into advocacy research designed to promote EU integration, foster 'European identity', and actively combat 'euroscepticism' and so-called 'disinformation'. This is propaganda by proxy, operating as a crucial part of a vast EU-NGO-media-academia complex.
Far from supporting genuine scholarship, this system deliberately erodes academic freedom by incentivising conformity and discouraging critical inquiry. Uncover how public funds are used to promote a predetermined political narrative, fundamentally undermining the pursuit of knowledge for truth's sake.
About the author
Thomas Fazi is an independent researcher, writer and journalist based in Rome. He is the author of several books, including: The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent – and How We Can Take It Back (Pluto Press, 2014); Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (co-authored with Bill Mitchell; Pluto Press, 2017); and The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left (co-authored with Toby Green; Hurst, 2023). He is a columnist for UnHerd and Compact.
