MCC Brussels Podcast

This week, Jacob Reynolds is joined by Philipp Siegert, Deputy Research Director at MCC Brussels, to unpack the EU’s migration pact blow-up, a College of Europe fraud probe, and the vandalism of Brussels’ Grand Place nativity scene. Pay up or take migrantsThe Commission sells the Pact on Migration and Asylum as “solidarity” – but the rollout is exposing open fractures across Europe. The Council is discussing relocation quotas (around 21,000) and a “solidarity contribution” of €20,000 for states that refuse to accept relocations, with Central European governments signalling pushback. The result is a policy that’s legally adopted, politically contested, and heading towards a confrontation that could run well past its planned June 2026 start date. A ‘quiet’ tender, then the real moneyA new scandal centres on the College of Europe and an EEAS-linked tender that allegedly stayed below a transparency threshold (around €143,000), before larger sums followed. The episode walks through how a dormitory requirement narrowed the field, how funding then jumped via additional grants (including ~€650,000) and later a much larger figure (~€960,000), and why investigators are now circling figures connected to the project. Defaced nativity, stolen JesusBrussels’ Grand Place nativity scene went “inclusive” – with faceless figures – and then got desecrated: the baby Jesus figure’s head was stolen and the tent was tagged “Free Palestine”, alongside reports of a major demonstration and clashes around the Christmas market opening. Philipp argues it’s not just vandalism, but a wider cultural pattern – a politics of deconstruction that leaves Europe’s Christian heritage permanently on the defensive. Follow MCC Brussels on social media:https://twitter.com/MCC_Brusselshttps://facebook.com/MCCBrusselshttps://linkedin.com/company/mcc-brussels/website:https://brussels.mcc.hu

Denmark isn’t “closed.” It’s controlled.In this Deep Dive, MCC Brussels’ John O’Brien sits down with Danish MEP Anders Vistisen from the Danish People's Party, to dissect the one European immigration model that actually works. Denmark’s approach is blunt, unapologetic, and stubbornly democratic: strict external controls, serious integration demands, honest statistics, and politicians who answer to voters.For decades, Danish governments—left and right—ignored the polite illusions pushed in Brussels and instead listened to the public. The result? Fewer illegal crossings, fewer ghettos, higher trust, and a country that refuses to tear up its social fabric to placate elite sentiment.What we cover:• How Denmark tightened asylum and family reunification rules—because voters demanded it• Why integration means language, values, responsibility and participation, not bureaucratic box-ticking• The cost of mass migration when skills don’t match the labour market• Free speech as Denmark’s pressure valve vs EU-style speech policing that drives grievances underground• Why dispersal, breaking up ghettos and preventing parallel societies actually works• What countries like Ireland can learn before social cohesion snaps under the weight of unmanaged inflows.If you want immigration to succeed, you need control, candour and a sense of national interest. Denmark shows what happens when a country refuses to sleepwalk into disaster—and chooses sovereignty over slogans.

This week, Jacob Reynolds is joined by Agnieszka Kolek and Richard Schenk to break down Brussels’ assault on X, Washington’s blunt verdict on Europe’s decline, and the Commission’s extraordinary pressure campaign against Belgium over frozen Russian assets.Brussels fines X to tame the last free platform.The Commission has slapped a €120 million penalty on Elon Musk’s platform, dressing it up as “transparency” enforcement. In reality, X is the only major network Brussels cannot control. It allows unfiltered footage, dissenting voices and inconvenient facts to circulate. So the EU is trying to discipline it through fines. America calls Europe a civilisation in decline.Washington’s new national security strategy says the quiet part out loud: Europe is losing confidence, population, and purpose. For all the EU’s grand rhetoric, the US sees a continent heading for demographic crisis and cultural fragmentation, while Central and Eastern Europe now look more stable than the West. The battle over Belgium’s Russian assets turns surreal.EU leaders insist Belgium must take on the entire financial risk of seizing frozen Russian funds to help Brussels fund the war in Ukraine.  A liability no other member state is willing to share. When Belgian leaders object, they are smeared as “pro-Russian.” It is less strategy than headless panic.  Brussels needs money for Ukraine, has none of its own, and is now bullying individual member states.

The gender lobby insists debate is forbidden. Institutions rewrite language. Women’s prisons, refuges and schools are paying the price -  and Europe’s political class looks the other way.In this Deep Dive, John O’Brien sits down with Kellie-Jay Keen (Posie Parker), one of the most outspoken defenders of women’s rights, for a blunt, unsparing conversation on how gender ideology captured institutions, intimidated feminists, and erased the very word woman.They discuss:• The moment she realised women were expected to stay silent• Why defining “woman” is now treated like blasphemy• How men are being placed in women’s prisons — and the cover-ups• Why the feminist movement caved so quickly• The indoctrination of a generation of children• What lawmakers must do if they wish to protect women and protect the truth• Why speaking plainly is now an act of civil courageHer message is simple:If you lose the word woman, you lose women.If you value open debate, freedom to speak plainly, and the protection of women and children, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. It genuinely helps counter the algorithms that punish dissenting voices.And for more conversations like this, follow us every week on Deep Dives from MCC Brussels.

Register now for Europe’s most important conservative gathering: Battle for the Soul of Europe — 3–4 December in Brussels: https://soulofeurope.coThis week, Jacob Reynolds is joined by Richard Schenk and  Pieter Cleppe to tackle the EU’s revived chat control plan, the cold shower of COP30, and yet another Brussels values crusade against Hungary.Chat Control is backThe Commission has quietly revived proposals that would let authorities peer into your private messages. Encryption is being undermined and platforms are threatened with liability until they police speech for the EU. It is the surveillance state in all but name.COP30 ends in embarrassmentEurope’s leaders flew to Brazil to chant green slogans while the continent slides into deindustrialisation. China and India continue to raise emissions. The US has walked away. The EU keeps crippling its own industries and calls it leadership. Even developing nations pushed back against the Commission’s eco-fantasies.Another attack on HungaryThe Parliament returns to its favourite ritual. A new “rule of law” report built by activist NGOs and rubber-stamped by MEPs claims Hungary has violated EU values once again. As always, the target is national sovereignty and any government that refuses Brussels’ ideological line.Europe’s institutions are acting without restraint.From privacy to energy to democracy, this episode shows the scale of the challenge and the opportunity for a very different Europe.If you value open debate, like, comment and subscribe. The EU is tightening its grip on digital platforms and conservative voices need your support to stay heard.