MCC Brussels has published a detailed rebuttal to recent coverage of its suspension from the EU Transparency Register, arguing Brussels is anything but consistent on the matter and does not apply the same rules to organisations to which it is sympathetic.
In a new statement and accompanying research paper, the think tank has gone on the offensive by publishing research into how the same rule that was used against it is applied to other registrants.
Its analysis of the Register’s more than 17,000 entries identifies numerous organisations that appear to maintain multiple registrations despite operating under shared governance, funding or branding structures.
Examples cited include the WWF network which has twelve separate entries, with a new WWF Mediterranean registration accepted in June 2025 even as the Secretariat was investigating MCC Brussels.
Other NGO networks such as BirdLife, Caritas, Friends of the Earth, and ILGA, also maintain multiple national or regional entries.
Corporate cases including subsidiaries of Schwarz Group (Lidl/Kaufland), VELUX, Mozilla, and Casinos Austria, where parent companies and Brussels operations are sometimes registered separately or not at all.
MCC Brussels argues that this demonstrates either inconsistent application of the rules or selective enforcement. The organisation has launched a series of investigations into the functioning of the Transparency Register itself.
The organisation stresses that the suspension, which took effect on June 15, does not relate to corruption, financial irregularities, undisclosed lobbying meetings, or any breach of the Code of Conduct.
It also clarifies that the final decision did not stem from the original complaint filed by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in early 2025.
CEO’s complaint had focused on alleged failures to disclose budget and funding sources, as well as criticism of MCC Brussels’ political activities and its links to Hungary.
The Transparency Register Secretariat later accepted that financial information had been provided within the required timeframe and moved the case to a dispute over the application of the “single registration principle”, something Brussels Signal correctly reported.
MCC Brussels is a legally independent Belgian AISBL. It maintains that it is editorially and operationally separate from the Budapest-based Mathias Corvinus Collegium Foundation, from which it receives a grant.
The Secretariat, however, has taken the view that the two entities form part of a single economic organisation and should therefore register only once.
The suspension removes MCC Brussels’ ability to obtain lobby passes and attend certain EU meetings under the conditionality principle. The think tank says it will appeal the decision through all available channels and will continue its work regardless.
In a wider critique, MCC Brussels questions the democratic legitimacy of the Register Secretariat, which operates under an inter-institutional agreement rather than a formal EU law passed by the European Parliament and Council.
Its lawyer previously described the process as “the epitome of endless bureaucracy” and an example of “abuse of power and differential treatment based on political views”.
Das @MCC_Brussels ist ein Think Tank, der z.B. die intransparente Finanzierung von NGOs durch die EU-Kommission aufgedeckt hat. Das will Ursula von der Leyen in Zukunft verhindern und versperrt MCC den Zugang zu den EU-Institutionen. Offensichtlich gehören Kritikfähigkeit und… https://t.co/mfELNFQ3dG
— Dr. Alexander Sell, MEP (@AlxSell) June 19, 2026
