MCC Feszt – Normalising the Normalisation of the Far Right
MCC’s annual festival is merely a propaganda tool for the far right that the mainstream willingly participates in - writes Gabriela Greilinger
Like every August over the past five years, the Hungarian Fidesz-government-aligned Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) held its annual festival, the so-called MCC Feszt, in Esztergom from July 31 to August 2. The three-day event offers a diverse range of activities, including music acts and panel discussions, often featuring high-profile political guests, such as Tucker Carlson in 2021 and 2023 who regularly praises Orbán’s Hungary.
While MCC claims to provide a platform for exchanging ideas and somewhat attempts to portray an image of openness to all views and political neutrality, it is, in reality, a government-funded institution whose views are closely aligned with those of the Orbán regime. It seeks to train the next generation of leaders while also expanding its reach and influence internationally. As such, it is not and cannot be a legitimate space for the mainstream to share and ‘debate’ views.
This year’s MCC Festival included another set of high-profile guests from the far right, such as the leader of the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, and tech billionaire investor and Trump supporter Peter Thiel. However, beyond the expected far-right figures, a set of self-described mainstream conservative actors and ‘centrists’ were, as in earlier years, not shy about making their presence known. One key figure among them is former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who did an incredible service to the normalisation and mainstreaming of the far right in Austria during his chancellorship, when he effectively took over the agenda and policy positions of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) on immigration and made them his own party’s. While the strategy worked in the short term, it backfired tremendously once Kurz was embroiled in his own scandals and stepped down. His fall from grace, coinciding with several crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing energy and economic crisis, paved the way for the far right’s return in Austria, which received almost 30% of the votes in last September’s national elections. While not in government right now, it continues to poll around 35 percent.
It was, of course, not the first time Kurz appeared at the MCC-organised festival, having attended several times before, and, in his own words, always happy to return. In a photo shared on social media, showing him at the MCC Feszt with PM Viktor Orbán and Peter Thiel, whom he worked for after leaving politics, he openly stated he was “meeting some old friends here”.
A former ‘centre-right’ chancellor describing a far-right prime minister who transformed the country into a hybrid regime, and a far-right tech billionaire who believes democracy and liberty are irreconcilable and played a significant role in paving the way for a second Trump term by financially backing the Trump/Vance campaign ‘friends’, should raise serious alarm for any small-d democrat. However, these close connections between the far right and what was once regarded as the political centre received relatively little media attention, especially not in Kurz’s home country, Austria. The normalisation of the far right has become normalised, too.
Giving an interview on the sidelines of the MCC festival, Kurz also stated that “there are many areas – migration for example – where the Hungarian government is absolutely right”, adding further clout to Orbán’s governance. This is something that previously only the Austrian far right has done, with far-right party leader Herbert Kickl, for example, suggesting in 2023 that Austria should follow Orbán’s example and establish a “fortress Austria” against immigration.
In another interview during this year’s MCC Feszt with the Fidesz-aligned and MCC-owned Mandiner magazine, Kurz further stated he was happy about Trump’s return, thinking that he would be able to end Russia’s war in Ukraine soon. This is a narrative that Orbán, too, propagated until recently, but has since changed course on, claiming he had thought “the US president would be strong enough to get European leaders to toe the line,...but he wasn’t.”
Sebastian Kurz is, of course, not the only (former) ‘mainstream’ politician to attend the MCC Feszt. Another key political figure sitting on the panel with Kurz was Dominic Cummings, the former chief advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, thus likewise associated with a nominally conservative party. Like so many other contemporary ‘mainstream’ politicians, Cummings likewise did not shy away from closer ties to the far right, even calling on Donald Trump to help Tories and Reform merge. Just a few months ago, he moreover argued that people should vote for the far-right Reform and had a secret dinner with Nigel Farage, thus demonstrating the shameless willingness to collaborate with the far right – even though numerous studies show that ‘mainstream’ parties are rather hurt than helped by the normalisation of the far right.
Similarly, Saskia Ludwig of the German “mainstream” CDU also attended the MCC Festival and faced significant criticism for meeting far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel there, reinforcing concerns about the Conservatives’ commitment to upholding the so-called ‘firewall’ in Germany.
These encounters exemplify MCC’s ambition to establish hegemony over far-right ideas and ideologies, as well as its strategic role within the so-called “pre-political space” (vorpolitischer Raum). If anything, MCC and its annual gathering demonstrate not only the increased mainstreaming and normalisation of the far right, but also the active participation of supposed ‘mainstream’ actors in far-right events and open engagement with far-right figures and ideas. It reveals how the far right is becoming more normalised and is increasingly regarded and treated as ‘the norm’ by European ‘mainstream’ politicians, who not only actively work to destigmatise it but also seemingly seek to legitimise it. This is the most troubling aspect: the willing engagement of these actors in forums like MCC, thereby further aiding and accelerating the normalisation of the far right.
Gabriela Greilinger