MCC Brussels

30/09/2026

Where to find us next: Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe

A recommendation from MCC Brussels

MCC Brussels existed to challenge the orthodoxies of the Brussels establishment — on free speech, sovereignty, democracy, migration, NGO power and the future of Europe.

Over the past three years, our events, reports, investigations, videos and interventions reached audiences far beyond Brussels. Politico described MCC Brussels as “the EU’s most prominent right-wing think tank”.

But circumstances change. MCC Brussels’ grant agreement has not been honoured, and its work in its present form is coming to an end.

The ideas, however, are not.

That is why we strongly recommend that readers of MCC Brussels follow the Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe (FSI Europe)

Join us here on Facebook for exciting news and meetings very soon -

https://www.facebook.com/FreSov/

Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe
Analysis and debate about freedom, sovereignty, democracy and the future of Europe.

Led by Frank Furedi and involving several members of the team behind MCC Brussels, FSI Europe has been established to carry this work forward in a new and independent form.

Its purpose is straightforward: to defend free speech, national sovereignty and democracy in Europe, while helping build the intellectual infrastructure required for a serious alternative to the European Union’s increasingly centralised political model.

FSI Europe will combine serious intellectual work with investigations, media interventions, podcasts, events and campaigning communications.

And it has already started.

Within days of launching, FSI Europe attracted thousands of followers on X. Its first investigative analysis — examining the relationship between the European Commission, fact-checking organisations and technology companies during the Ceuta migration crisis — has already attracted media attention.

For those who followed MCC Brussels because they valued our willingness to ask uncomfortable questions, challenge establishment assumptions and create a space in which genuinely contested ideas could be debated, FSI Europe is where we recommend you go next.

follow this link and join

https://www.facebook.com/FreSov/

Follow the new project

Subscribe to the FSI Europe Substack to receive its latest investigations, commentary, podcasts and announcements.

On the web Visit fsieurope.org to find out more about its plans.

Follow on X for its latest interventions and videos.

And, crucially, FSI Europe is starting without a large institutional backer. If you believe this work should continue, consider supporting it financially or introducing the team to individuals and organisations who might.

DONATE

MCC Brussels has been proud of what it achieved.

We hope many of you will now get behind what comes next.

Follow Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe.

https://www.facebook.com/FreSov/

Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe is an independent Brussels-based think tank. FSI Europe exists to make the case for a Europe of sovereign, secure nations.

30/09/2026

The time has come ......to move-
Come with us join us https://www.facebook.com/FreSov/

Join our new page to be better informed and access all our social content, meetings and analysis.

Freedom and Sovereignty Initiative Europe is an independent Brussels-based think tank. FSI Europe exists to make the case for a Europe of sovereign, secure nations.

17/09/2026

What has Europe done to deserve Ursula von der Leyen?
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Her big ‘State of the European Union’ speech proved that the EU has no answers to the pressing issues of our age.

Jacob Reynolds is Head of Policy at MCC Brussels.

17th September 2026

What has Europe done to deserve Ursula von der Leyen?
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Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, delivered her ‘State of the European Union’ speech in the European Parliament on Wednesday. The now annual tradition is the EU’s attempt to channel the grand spectacle of the US president’s far more consequential State of the Union address.

The contrast could not have been more stark. For one thing, the US president is the most powerful elected figure in the world; the president of the European Commission is not elected at all.

Von der Leyen, or VDL as she is known in Brussels, is not noted for her charismatic delivery. But even by her dismal standards, sustaining that drone for 75 whole minutes took some doing. Every Brussels buzzword got a mention. New initiatives were floated. And yet amid it all, she failed to provide any real answers to the gigantic problems facing the bloc.

VDL and other Eurocrats are partly responsible for creating those problems. She may today talk urgently about cutting red tape and reviving European industry. But it was the European Commission that spent years expanding precisely the regulatory machinery that European firms complain about. Brussels constructed an economic model in which producing things became harder, and energy became dearer. The sole growth industry is now bureaucracy.

As is common among European elites, VDL only seemed impassioned when talking of the enemies of ‘European unity’. She invoked the familiar bogeymen of ‘ultranationalists’, ‘anti-Europeans’, ‘Russian interference’ and ‘disinformation’. Their goal, she said, was to ‘shatter our European unity’, because they ‘despise our values’.

But what are these EU values exactly? Suspicion of democracy? Regulation? Indeed, the only time the European Commission seems confident is when it is regulating something. VDL’s speech was no exception. She promised to impose an ‘EU Kids Act’ which would ban under-13s from the internet. Even worse, she proudly proclaimed that she would be ‘reversing the burden of proof’ for online companies and platforms – they will now ‘have to prove to us that they are safe’.

She also talked up the ‘Centre for Democratic Resilience’, an EU initiative clearly conceived as a command-and-control centre for monitoring speech and interfering in elections. She said this centre would not just look at Russia but also target ‘anti-European forces’ within the EU, which presumably include any mildly populist, Eurosceptic grouping or party. And she once again celebrated the ousting of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán – she even let slip that Hungary would be rewarded for making ‘the right choice’, with the EU poised to release ‘billions of euros of investment in Hungary’.

When the speech was not sinister, it became surreal. VDL was clearly delighted to have the darling of the technocrats, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, in the audience. European elites have recently become rather enamoured with the idea of an alliance with Canada to counterbalance the Big Bad America of Donald Trump. VDL went so far as to offer Canada the chance to become ‘the first associate member of the EU’. It did not matter that there is no such thing as ‘associate membership’ in any of the EU treaties. Part of her rationale for the new agreement with Canada was that ‘we share one ocean’ – which is one way of overcoming the fact she was offering a diluted form of membership to a country not in Europe. All this was made doubly surreal by the fact that EU officials had earlier been briefing the Financial Times that Carney’s own offer of a ‘unique alliance’ would not be taken up.

Unfortunately for VDL, most of the problems she doesn’t have answers for can be traced right back to the EU and the European Commission’s door. The majority of these issues stem from the Brussels elite’s radical separation from, and hostility to, the European demos. With unusually amusing timing, elite barometer Politico sent an email update midway through VDL’s speech asking ‘Ursula von der Who?’. This was hooked off a new poll that found ‘more than one in five French respondents said they didn’t know’ who VDL is. Given that no one in Europe was invited to vote for her as Commission president, this is not surprising.

This chasm between the Commission and ordinary people drives much of the EU’s policy machinery. Indeed, in lieu of any connection to the people of Europe, the Commission has long been forced to invent its own parallel version of society. The EU spends billions funding and manufacturing a so-called European civil society – the funding for NGOs and media outlets is set to expand to a staggering €8.6 billion for the next EU budget. One journalist let it slip that there were around 500 journalists in Strasbourg listening to VDL’s speech – and that ‘the vast majority’ of these are ‘subsidised by the European Parliament’. Yet even these astroturfed journalists are increasingly looking more like professional mourners than effective propagandists.

After this deathlessly dull, empty speech, it was difficult to avoid the question: what is the point of Ursula von der Leyen? And beyond that lurks the bigger, existential question: what is the EU itself for? It’s not clear if anyone knows.

Her big ‘State of the European Union’ speech proved that the EU has no answers to the pressing issues of our age.

15/09/2026

The Battle of Ideas is Europe’s premier free-speech gathering.
Two days of unfiltered debate, big arguments, and the kind of networking you only get when people actually believe ideas should clash in public, not get shut down.

If you’re committed to freedom, this is the room.
Sign up for the debates. Don’t miss out.

Two day of public debate on the biggest issues of the day with the slogan 'Conversations for the public, with the public, in public'. FREE SPEECH ALLOWED

15/09/2026

On the heels of a great win in the UK resisting the lobby, we invite you to look at our discussion on what is at stake as the push for Euthanasia in Europe gathers steam.

18:30 – 20:00Euthanasia is a divisive issue across Europe, raisin...

13/09/2026

Great news from Westminster.
MPs just voted down the "assisted dying" bill 286–270. After years of pressure and a previous near-miss, they stopped the state from licensing the ending of life.
Proper David and Goliath stuff.

Well done to everyone who kept going when it looked like the other side had all the momentum. Life still matters.
Watch this episode of deep dives where Ashley Frawley unpacks what is behind the push to legalise euthanasia.

12/09/2026

Thoughtful article from Michael Thomas in the Brussels Signal - what did you think of the election result in Germany for the AFD?

The AfD’s historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt reflects a qualitative shift in its support, indicating a significant challenge to the German political mainstream as voter behavior transforms.

11/09/2026

9/11. 2,977 lives taken by religious extremists.
We remember. Never forget.

10/09/2026

Ekspert brukselskiego think-tanku: AfD nie jest antypolska, ale jej podejście do Rosji może budzić obawy Warszawy

AfD nie jest antypolskie, lecz nacjonalistyczne, stawiając interesy Niemiec ponad wszystko. Richard Schenk wyjaśnia, że partia widzi Polskę jako wzór

04/09/2026

Ami az MCC-vel történik, az a kicsinyes bosszú és a kíméletlen pusztítás iskolapéldája.
Nem elég, hogy az új kormány államosította a magyarországi MCC-t, most már a brüsszeli irodáját is bedarálták.

Az MCC egy hiánypótló, pezsgő szellemi központ volt, amely megmozgatta a brüsszeli állóvizet. Olyan fontos kérdéseket vetett fel és olyan nézőpontokat képviselt, amelyekről Brüsszelben inkább hallgatni szerettek volna. Nem igazodott a liberális fősodorhoz, hanem saját álláspontot fogalmazott meg – pont ezért vált valódi szellemi tényezővé.

Most pontosan ezt rombolják le Magyar Péterék.
Pedig az MCC sokkal több egy egyszerű intézménynél. Nemzetközi kapcsolatrendszer, szellemi műhely és önálló magyar hang, de egyben fiatal tehetségek százainak felkarolója és a következő generáció tehetséggondozó műhelye is. Olyan fiataloknak adott lehetőséget, akikből később Magyarország meghatározó szakemberei, vezetői és közéleti szereplői lehetnek.

Ez a Tisza-féle rombolás nem épít semmit és nem kínál alternatívát. A brüsszeli MCC-t akár át is vehették volna, továbbvihették volna azt a tudást, kapcsolatot és nemzetközi befolyást, amelyet évek alatt felépítettek. Ehelyett inkább gátlástalanul tönkreteszik. Ez nem más, mint az alkalmatlan emberek kicsinyes bosszúja!

Nem akarják, hogy Magyarország önálló szellemi és politikai viszonyítási pont legyen. Inkább beletörődnek abba, hogy az ország feloldódjon Brüsszel liberális politikájában.

Ez nem átalakítás. Ez nemzeti önsorsrontás!