“The MCC is an educational institution and research center devoted to the flourishing of the Hungarian nation”, defines the MCC itself on their website. Although the MCC does not offer a traditional university degree, it does, according to the MCC, provide a complement to Hungarian higher education. Those who are successful in securing a coveted scholarship place (Approx. 10 applicants apply to one place in Budapest) receive financial support to participate in MCCs international network. In addition to the various institutes for public policy and research the MCC opened in 2022 a teaching center in Brussels (MCC Brussels), started a partnership with the European School of Management and Technology Berlin (ESMT) - Germany’s most renowned business school - and has a majority holding in the private Modul University Vienna (MU Vienna). Besides the benefits of funding and scholarships, alumni student Bence X Szechenyi also mentions housing, invitations to lavish dinners, open-bar parties and trips abroad as a “hard to turn down” offer.
What sounds like a network full of opportunities for a promising career is actually the result of a pro-government educational structure of the Fidesz party under Viktor Orbán.
The first steps across the border
Due to a large private donation from the entrepreneur Orbán adviser András Tombor, a supporter of (right-)conservative parties, the MCC opened its doors in 1996. The aim was to „support and train highly talented young people committed to Hungary’s prosperity“. On its fifth anniversary, the MCC’s first student residence was opened in Budapest with 47 students.
From then on, the MCC expanded its offerings and thematically, for example with two-year continuing education programs in the fields of law, economics, social sciences, international relations and communication.
Hungarian minority
Within 22 years, the MCC has also managed to establish itself outside the country’s borders. In the 2010s, a program for secondary school students in Cluj-Napoca and Odorheiu Secuiesc in Transylvania, Romania, marked the beginning. The reason for the interest in Romania goes back to the 1920s, where Hungary had to return the region of Transylvania to Romania. As a result, the Hungarians living in Romania represent the largest ethnic minority. Around 15% of people of Hungarian origin live in Cluj (2011) and 87% in Odorheiu Secuiesc (2021).
The German influence
Werner Patzelt, a German political scientist, is the research director of MCC Brussels. The topic of his current working group: „Conservatism“. According to the program description, the aim is to invalidate arguments when „conservative“ is used as an „unpleasant term“ and a cheap phrase to label political opponents, as this is detrimental to rational political discourse.
Patzelts background goes back to his membership in the very conservative-oriented Saxon state association of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Patzelt is on the right edge and acts as a door opener to the Alternative for Germany (AfD, right wing party). In Saxony, the AfD has been categorised as secured right-wing extremist. In addition, Patzelt has regularly published articles in right-wing orientated media such as Junge Freiheit (Young Freedom) and the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung or in clearly right-wing populist media such as Nius.
Be part of the Fidez family
Zoltán Szalai and Balazs Orbán are both non-partisan, but maintain close links to the Fidesz party and the ideology. At the MCC, Szalai is functioning as the Director General. At the same time, he is managing director and editor-in-chief of the Fidesz-affiliated publication Mandiner and editor of the magazine Der Kommentar (The Comment). A direct link to the government exists with MCCs Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Balazs Orbán. He is State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, where he acts as Political Director - a kind of visionary without executive responsibilities. He also attends meetings of the Fidesz parliamentary group. He himself does not see his dual role as critical, as he is not involved in operations, but is responsible for management and strategic decisions.
The financial power game
In 2020, the Hungarian parliament, consisting of the Fidesz majority, transferred state funds and assets amounting to the equivalent of 1.4 billion euros to the MCC. 280 billion forints (EUR 666,212,300) came from the respective ten percent shareholdings in the Hungarian multinational oil and gas company MOL and the pharmaceutical group Gedeon Richter.
Own illustration made with Canva. Use of the MCC logo.
In the last three years, MOL has more than doubled its sales worth. Although the pharmaceutical company has not managed to double its figures over the last three years, there has been continuous growth. As a result, the capital for the MCC has continued to grow steadily.
Imbalance in public spending
These shares are thus higher than the total amount of state benefits for disabilities and rehabilitation measures or unemployment benefits and public job creation measures combined, both of which were spent in 2020. The MCC also received HUF 94.5 billion (EUR 242,150,535) from the state from the Economic Protection Fund, almost a third of the total fund amount. The 2020 endowment capital is thus higher than the amount spent by the state on higher education in Hungary in the entire year (Tagesspiegel, FAZ, TELEX). In addition, MCC has received several properties over the years and now has several addresses throughout the country and abroad.
It should be emphasized that state investments in companies can be justified on the grounds of security of supply. However, as soon as an educational institution receives these shares, the argument is no longer valid. This shadow financing becomes particularly obscure when this financial capital from public funds is used to take over market-leading companies such as Libri.
Anonymous Hungarian Instagram channel posted a picture of the logo on the bookstore’s exteriors doctored to read “illibri” - Reference to the landmark 2014 speech in which Orbán proclaimed his intention to build “an illiberal state”.
An international balancing act
The aim of the MCC is to position itself further internationally. In line with this, the Mathias Corvinus Collegium acquired 90 percent of the shares of the MU Vienna in May 2023. For Balazs Orbán, this is a “new milestone” in international expansion. The previous majority owner, British entrepreneur Suresh Sivagnanam, had surprisingly withdrawn. “It was agreed not to disclose the purchase price,” says Karl Wöber, Rector of Modul University, to the Tagesspiegel. The remaining ten percent will remain in the possession of the Chamber of Commerce. As a 15-year-old private university with currently around 1,100 students and campuses in Vienna and Nanjing, China, the Modul University is one of the best-known educational institutions in Austria.
One year after the adoption, employees are speaking about ideological influence and their concerns. The climate at the university has changed since the takeover, employees tell the STANDARD. They speak of subtle influence, with staff being asked to keep a low political profile, for example. After all, as a Modul University, you contribute to legitimising the ideology of the MCC - “and we don’t want to play along with that”, the employee told Standard angrily. What does this mean for students and their future academic careers if they suddenly bear the ‘Orbán stamp’?
International media presence
At the beginning of June 2023, the German broadcast ZDF also reported on the MU Vienna in a report on the ideological influence of the MCC in Europe. “Shortly after the takeover, people with quite extreme and strange political attitudes applied to the university, boasting at the interview that they were pro-Putin and pro-Orbán. Such researchers are now teaching staff and have been hired by the dean”, it quotes an anonymous employee. University Rector Wöber explains in response to a STANDARD enquiry that the two deans and the dean of the university “assured him in a personal conversation that the allegations in question are not true”. When asked, the MCC also spoke of ‘false accusations’.
MCC = “Viktor Orbán’s pet university”?
The MCC is increasingly crossing paths with right-wing populists and anti-democratic content. It is questionable what content the MCC communicates when the leadership close to Fidesz, such as Szalai, clearly positions itself on the side of the community of values and strictly rejects the ideas of individualism and hedonism. The MCC website states further, “[...]we are not value neutral. The environment that is fostered at MCC is one which encourages patriotism, respect for tradition, a realistic approach to global affairs, and care for the Hungarian nation and the future of the Western world”.
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