Two Euroskeptic media outlets, Brussels Signal and The European Conservative, stand to lose greatly following the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. But incoming prime minister Péter Magyar may also question the cost and sense of Hungary’s Euronews links, despite the journalists’ solid pan-European reporting.
For years, Orbán’s government was among Europe’s most active backers of conservative EU-critical media messaging, and more so after the EU imposed sanctions, in March 2022, on state-owned outlets Russia Today and Sputnik for information manipulation and disinformation. Orban’s aligned outlets cast themselves as counterweights to what they describe as the liberal consensus in Brussels, often embodied by outlets such as Politico Europe, Financial Times, and Economist that receive hundreds of thousands in EU institutional media subscription contracts.
The exact funding streams of Orban-linked outlets remain unclear. Corporate filings for the company behind Brussels Signal, Remedia Europe — founded by Patrick Egan — show an accumulated loss of €949,524 at the end of 2024, financed through shareholder loans. Egan’s Budapest-based firm, FWD Affairs, also operates Remix News, another right-wing Euroskeptic outlet focused more on Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and migration.
Remix News says Hungary’s incoming prime minister, Péter Magyar, is going to war with right-wing think tanks that, under Orbán, received generous state funding, including through the oil and gas company MOL Group.
“I expect MOL not to pay the 25 billion forint dividend to MCC,” Magyar wrote on X, referring to the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a conservative educational foundation. MCC received a 10 percent stake in MOL in 2020, helping finance a network of think tanks and media projects. In spite of Magyar’s words, MCC could still this year receive some 24.1 billion forint (€65.9 million) on the basis of Mol’s dividends conveniently announced just before the elections.
Magyar is not a nice guy
That message has certainly been received in Brussels. Frank Füredi, executive director of MCC Brussels, said European Commission “puppet” Magyar is not a “nice guy” who will first close down organizations like MCC Brussels. The latter reported €6,361,791 in funding from MCC Hungary to the EU Transparency Register. “I’ve got no illusions on him,” he said. “Without a doubt they will try,” Füredi added at an MCC event analyzing the April 12 election.
At the same event, Euractiv politics editor Bruno Waterfield said that while many Hungarians supported Orbán, some were uneasy about the wealth accumulated by his family. But Waterfield added that European Commission officials are privately cautious about his replacement. “They don’t really trust Magyar. He’s not necessarily obedient,” he said.
Euronews and other funding impacts
Another impacted outlet could be The European Conservative, which spent €761,753 on personnel in its Brussels office in 2024, according to Belgian company records. The publication has built its profile through partnerships, content and events tied to MCC and other conservative, Euroskeptic organizations.
Editors and contributors who once operated within a well-financed political ecosystem now face a more uncertain landscape, as outlets scale back expansion plans or seek new sources of support.
Still, analysts do not expect the Euroskeptic media sphere to disappear. If anything, the decline of these outlets could create space for new entrants in the EU-critical media landscape. Or other outlets may explore a shift to the right with pronounced Euroskeptic positions.
Paradoxically, with Orbán removed, the sense and propriety of Hungary’s alleged link to Euronews may come under scrutiny again. In April 2024, investigative outlets Direkt36, Expresso and Le Monde reported, citing leaked documents, that a “significant” part of Euronews’ acquisition may have been financed by actors linked to the Hungarian government.
Euronews’ ownership, debt and commercial relations in the Middle East and Central Asia, were highlighted in recent investigative reporting by Euractiv’s Elisa Braun and Magnus Lund Nielsen.
In separate reporting ahead of Hungarian elections, Euractiv’s Braun raised concerns about editorial independence following the initial removal of an article by Euronews’ Budapest correspondent Gábor Tanács about falling share prices in companies allegedly linked to Orbán.
The European Commission, which provided Euronews with nearly €12 million in 2025, including support for reporting from Hungary, confirmed via spokesperson Thomas Regnier that editorial independence is a core requirement of its financial agreements.
