A gathering of “Europe’s hard-right elite” held in Brussels today was organised by a fossil fuel funded think tank, DeSmog can reveal.

The National Conservatism (NatCon) conference was mired in controversy after the mayor of Brussels ordered police to shut down the event, leading to a standoff with its organisers.

The conference was due to be attended by critics of net zero policies and climate science, as well as radical right-wing figures from across Europe. French far-right politician Eric Zemmour was due to attend, alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely considered to be a far-right leader, GB News presenter and Reform UK president Nigel Farage, and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The NatCon Brussels event was sponsored and coordinated by Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), a Hungarian think tank funded by oil and gas money. MCC received more than £1.3 billion in Hungarian state funding in 2020, awarded a 10 percent stake in the country’s oil and gas giant MOL.

The location of the conference had to be moved on two occasions after the Socialist Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close said that the event wasn’t welcome in the city. It eventually went ahead in a venue provided by the events company Claridge, after which police were ordered to shut down the gathering “to guarantee public safety”.

Source: ‘Hard-Right’ NatCon Event Was Organised by Oil Funded Group – DeSmog