The European Commission says it spends around €21 million a year on subsidies and grants for pan-European media outlets, but a recent Euractiv analysis found the actual amount is “significantly higher.” The exact figure is difficult to determine due to the general lack of transparency in Brussels.
Under the current budgetary period (2021-2027), the EU has allocated over €210 million to media-related projects—an average of €35 million per year. That’s —66% more than the Commission’s initial figure, and the total is likely to grow as new tenders and projects are expected before the end of the budget cycle.
And that’s still not everything. In fact, according to the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC), the EU has given a total of €215 million to different media outlets between 2021 and 2023 (including €99 million just in 2022), meaning the initially allocated seven-year media budget was surpassed already in the first three years.
According to the recent bombshell report from conservative think tank MCC Brussels, a more accurate annual average would be over €80 million worth of taxpayer funds spent on ‘friendly’ media in the past years, totaling close to €1 billion over the past decade.
And then there are further indirect funding mechanisms, hidden behind classified intermediary contracts that are not included even in the MCC report, such as the €133 million funneled to unknown outlets during the 2024 EU election campaign period, which we wrote about here.
After being contacted by Euractiv, a Commission spokesman vaguely explained the discrepancy in the numbers by saying that the €20 million figure only covers the most direct source, the “Multimedia Actions” program, while the total amount of media funding comes from multiple budget lines and sources that fluctuate every year.
It’s safe to say that’s not much of an explanation, and the MJRC agrees. “EU support in this area is clearly growing,” yet tracking these money flows feels “like wading through treacle: it’s complex, fragmented, and not always transparent,” said Marius Dragomir, the director of the organization.
And while the Commission claims its goal with these funds is to counter the decline of “media pluralism” across Europe, even the usually Brussels-friendly Euractiv seems to question this motive.
The paper—which was partially funded by the EU until last year, but is now free to criticize—argued that the enormous funding Brussels provides to a select group of “independent media” distorts the market, puts others at a disadvantage, and creates a dependency among the beneficiaries, who then could be easily turned into propaganda tools.
Of course, the Commission insists that all recipients of EU funds operate under “complete editorial independence.” But the clear political and ideological bias involved in the selection process—along with the fact that many recipients depend on EU funding for survival—suggests, at the very least, a huge risk of self-censorship and automatic alignment with Brussels’ agenda.
“It becomes problematic if you rely too much on EU funds. That’s how you create behavioral automatisms in journalism,” explained Dragomir.
British publicist Thomas Fazi, the author of MCC Brussels’ latest media report, put it more bluntly when explaining how the EU was “systematically investing in shaping a ‘friendly’ media environment that reinforces its own legitimacy and political goals.” Fazi said:
This phenomenon calls into question the very notion of media independence in Europe today—particularly when the line between journalism and institutional propaganda becomes so thin as to be almost imperceptible.
One interesting example that Euractiv brought up is Euronews, which alone received €227 million from the EU between 2014 and 2023—that’s an average of €25 million annually, or €4 million more than the Commission claims to spend on all media activities each year.
Euronews also provides a tangible example of what exactly Brussels aims to achieve with its hidden propaganda. In October 2023—two months before the Polish election—the outlet received another contract worth €11 million, as well as an additional tranche of €3 million specifically to deliver content in Poland and Hungary, the countries whose conservative governments were constantly in the crosshairs of Brussels at the time.
The goal was clear as the day: spread liberal messaging and help the pro-EU opposition take over the government. It happened in Poland—Donald Tusk’s liberal coalition was able to unseat the conservative PiS in December 2023—and it may happen in Hungary during next year’s parliamentary election as well.
Of course, withholding vital EU funds from the conservative governments (nearly €140 billion from Poland and over €30 billion from Hungary) can arguably have a greater effect in facilitating political change, but the role of EU-funded media must not be underestimated either. The odds are stacked against anyone who dares to disagree with the central line in Brussels—all paid for out of your pockets.
