Thread by @battleforeurope

🚨 By now everyone knows how US-based orgs like USAID fund NGOs to promote US interests abroad. But did you know the EU has its own USAID?

A 🧵 on my latest bombshell report on The EU’s Propaganda Machine: How the EU Funds NGOs to Promote Itself:
brussels.mcc.hu/publication/th…

💰 The European Commission channels billions to European NGOs and think tanks to promote pro-EU, pro-integrationist narratives — and even undermine EU-critical governments — in what may be described as propaganda by proxy. Here’s how it works ⬇️

🇪🇺 The Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme is at the heart of this effort, with €1.8B allocated to the promotion of “EU values” — which often amounts to promoting the EU itself and the very principle of supranational integration.

📢 These NGOs are heavily (if not entirely in some cases) reliant on the Commission for their funding. As a result, EU they can hardly be considered “independent” — in fact, they are transformed into tools for institutional propaganda aimed at promoting the Commission’s agenda.

Here are some examples of how the EU uses NGOs and other organisations to reinforce the pro-EU narrative and openly countering eurosceptic views:

🇪🇺 In light of the above, it is not surprising to learn that some of the organisations most lavishly funded by the Commission are openly committed to the cause of greater European integration or federalism. Here are just some examples:

🤝 In some cases, NGOs are funded to lobby Brussels itself — a textbook case of self-lobbying.

🎭 This shadowy EU-NGO complex has very little to do with civic engagement or democracy. On the contrary, “independent voices of civil society” — to all intents and purposes organic to the EU’s machinery — are weaponised to shift even more authority to the Commission itself.

🤝 The EU-NGO propaganda complex creates a closed loop: NGOs push for pro-EU policies, politicians cite “civil society support” and the EU funds more NGOs to continue the cycle.

🇺🇸 This form of covert propaganda can be compared to the way the US government channels funding to NGOs worldwide through organisations like USAID to advance its geopolitical interests.

🏳️‍🌈 The EU also promotes liberal-progressive social values in ways that often clash with local cultures — particularly in Central & Eastern Europe — in what may be considered a form of cultural imperialism.

✅ In short, the EU-NGO propaganda complex amplifies pro-EU voices while marginalising dissenting views. Indeed, anti-EU views are often dismissed as “disinformation” — a term increasingly used to justify censorship.

❌ Weaponising “fact-checking”: the EU is pouring money into “disinformation” projects that monitor political speech and flag “threats” to European integration — effectively policing public opinion.

📺 Millions go to pro-EU propaganda projects, including media initiatives, social media campaigns and even an EU-sponsored TV news portal to promote “approved narratives”.

🇵🇱🇭🇺 It gets worse: in countries with conservative or eurosceptic governments — like Poland (until recently), Hungary and Slovakia — the Commission’s funding of local NGOs can become a tool or undermining or even attempting to unseat democratically elected administrations.

🛤️ The CERV programme is just the tip of the iceberg. The EU’s propaganda machine is embedded in various budgetary mechanisms: education programs (Erasmus+), media outreach and even Horizon Europe (research funding) all serve to reinforce a pro-EU narrative.

🔄 Indeed, the line between official and covert propaganda campaigns is often blurred. For instance, over the past decade, the European Commission has provided nearly a quarter of a billion euros to the pan-European news network Euronews — an average of €25 million a year.

🗳️ The Commission has also been caught red-handed paying news outlets to promote its own narratives:

🕵️‍♂️ The lack of transparency is staggering. It’s virtually impossible to track the full extent of EU-funded propaganda, as funding is distributed across multiple programs without clear oversight. A public audit is urgently needed.

❗️The EU-NGO propaganda complex represents a huge challenge to democracy: it skewers public debates and silences alternative perspectives, fostering a one-sided narrative that prioritises EU policies + supranational integration over national sovereignty and democratic pluralism.

⚖️ Moreover by turning NGOs into policy enforcers, the EU undermines genuine civil society. Independent advocacy groups get drowned out in a flood of EU-funded activism. NGOs should work in the public interest, not act as tools of undemocratic supranational agendas.

🚨 Bottom line: the EU is using your tax money to push its agenda, fund loyal NGOs, influence elections and silence opposition — all under the guise of promoting democracy.

What do you think? 🤔 Read the report, share it and drop your thoughts below! ⬇️
#EU #Propaganda #NGOs

📖 Read the report here: brussels.mcc.hu/publication/th…