Orban’s leadership has pumped “extraordinary” amounts of money into MCC to help nurture a circle of intellectuals who will help his Fidesz party keep power at home and widen his influence abroad, said Daniel Hegedus, a senior fellow focused on Central Europe at German Marshall Fund.
“MCC is part of the Fidesz propaganda machine,” said Hegedus, who is based in Berlin. “Orban would like to create that sort of organic intelligence or this web of public intellectuals in Hungary, first and foremost for the sake of regime stability.”