The institution emphasized that they will not be silenced.Continue reading
This is not the first time that MCC Brussels has faced violent threats, with the latest attack taking place on Tuesday last week. The venue of the Hungarian-based Brussels think tank was attacked by an anti-fascist group. The hotel had received multiple threats in recent days and in the end canceled Wednesday’s event due to intimidation. Similarly, other venues hosting MCC Brussels events have also faced threats and vandalism by unidentified individuals in recent weeks.
The mission of MCC Brussels is to serve as a public think tank in the heart of the European Union, providing a forum for free debate and consultation for those who think differently from the mainstream, as well as for well-founded policy, professional, and social proposals. Its events usually feature discussions on the state of the world and Europe by renowned experts, academics, and intellectuals.
Wednesday’s lecture also promised to be a lively, interesting and, as usual, open event, until the day before, when anti-fascist activists attacked the planned and contracted venue, the Stanhope Hotel: following an email threat, protesters pelted the building with eggs on Tuesday.
As a result of the attack and threats, the hotel withdrew from hosting the event, marking a new stage in the series of harassment against MCC Brussels that has been going on for more than a year.
MCC Brussels responded to the events, stating that these go far beyond the bounds of protest.
After exerting political pressure, our political and ideological opponents have now gone a step further and are using violence and intimidation to persecute freedom of speech and democracy in the heart of the European Union, in Brussels,”
stated MCC Brussels.
Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s political director, sent an open letter to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Wednesday, calling on him to respect fundamental freedoms and protect the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
While they preach that there are problems with democracy in Hungary, they are unable to guarantee even the most basic freedoms?”
he asked the Belgian Prime Minister.
Last April, Emir Kir, the left-wing mayor of the Saint-Josse district, tried to prevent the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) from taking place, at which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was also scheduled to speak, by deploying police forces. The Belgian Prime Minister at the time, Alexander De Croo, condemned the move.
Banning political events is unconstitutional,”
the former Belgian Prime Minister had said.
In the fall of 2024, globalist and left-wing groups disrupted two book launch events related to Hungary. On one occasion, they tried to prevent the book launch of Frank Füredi, head of the MCC in Brussels, and then the book signing of Jordan Bardella, leader of the French National Rally.
In the former case, the venue (the Piola Libri bookstore) bowed to political pressure, while in the latter, a large number of anti-fascists gathered in front of the Hungarian House in Brussels, whose violent demonstration could only be kept under control by the police.
The harassment of the organization is not limited to physical space; their political and ideological opponents, generously supported by the European Commission, are also deploying their friendly media, which is publishing a series of offensive articles. More recently, they have even resorted to administrative and legal means to try to undermine this increasingly influential and highly effective think tank. In February, the NGO Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) filed a complaint against MCC Brussels with the European Union, alleging that the organization had failed to comply with its transparency obligations.
MCC Brussels responded with facts, stating that it operates with financial transparency. Furthermore, they emphasized that the deadline for submitting reports was pending, so any failure to do so was conceptually impossible. They also pointed out that the NGO that filed the complaint was funded by, among others, George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.
According to their statement, the coordination of public attacks is evident not only in the political arena but also at the operational level: anti-fascist groups often appear on the scene on the same days when hostile media outlets and NGOs launch coordinated campaigns.
The latest attack was not an isolated incident. Last month, a group of anti-fascist activists carried out a campaign against MCC Brussels venues. In a single night, ten different locations, including several well-known hotels and event centers, were plastered with protest messages labeling MCC Brussels as “far-right.”
The anti-fascist group openly admitted that their goal was to put pressure on the entities providing space for the events, forcing them to stop hosting events organized by Hungarian think tanks. The police arrested several activists, but the organizers said that if the conferences continue, the city can expect further action. The aim of the actions is to exclude right-wing, nationalist, and conservative ideas from the political discourse in Brussels. If someone thinks differently from the EU elite or expresses a dissenting opinion, they try to discredit them, silence them – and, more recently, even intimidate them.
The city administration sometimes directly encourages extreme behavior, and the situation is getting worse,”
Frank Füredi told hirado.hu.
According to the executive director of MCC Brussels, the work of his organization has touched on sensitive issues in recent months—particularly its analyses of the functioning of EU-funded NGO networks—and as a result, coordinated political and activist attacks are now being used to discredit and isolate them.
Politicians could prevent intimidation attempts like these if they wanted to, but the authorities are unwilling to take action, and the city government sometimes even encourages extreme behavior,”
Füredi pointed out.
He added that pluralism of opinion is gradually narrowing in Brussels and Western Europe, and the rule of law is being replaced by selective exercise of power based on political taste. Certain opinions have no place, certain events can be banned – while others cannot. According to Frank Füredi, it is inconceivable that in a similar case in the United Kingdom, the authorities would treat the attacks as negligently as they are doing in Belgium.
The attacks by anti-fascist groups against freedom of expression are reminiscent of the methods of fascism in the 1920s. And the situation is getting worse every month,”
he added.
He also recalled that with a unanimous vote in April 2025, the Brussels City Council officially declared the Belgian capital an anti-fascist city. Such a step is more than a simple symbolic gesture. It also signals that the political elite believes that fascists are present and must be confronted.
According to Füredi, the decisive advance of the right wing has caused panic among the European political elite. This is why in Belgium and elsewhere in the European Union, those in power seem to forget the fundamental values and rules of democracy as soon as they are no longer favorable to them.
In contrast, MCC Brussels, in a statement following the attack, stated that they will always stand up for the continuation of free debate and will continue its activities.
“We will not allow ourselves to be silenced,” the statement concluded.
Via hirado.hu; Featured photo: MTI/Purger Tamás