Stronger funding from American, Dutch, and EU budgets was allocated to the far-left Mércé referring to the election year.

The association’s 2023 report indicates that the funds were specifically received in reference to the upcoming 2024 election year.

Funding from American, Dutch, and EU budget sources arrived last year through the Hivos Foundation, which promotes LGBTQ rights, to the left-wing portal Mérce.

The association behind the latter received the funds specifically in reference to the upcoming 2024 election year, as stated in their 2023 report. Additionally, the Dutch government separately allocated an amount equivalent to over six million forints to the dollar medium, which also received nearly four million forints from Brussels and five thousand dollars from the Soros University for multi-year periods.

The Double Standard Blog Association’s revenues in 2023 totaled just over seventy million forints. This is a significant increase compared to barely exceeding 33 million in 2018. The organization managed to achieve a “quality leap” (from just over 61 million) in the year of the 2019 municipal elections. That year was pivotal in the life of Jámbor András, the former editor-in-chief of Mérce and the president of the association, as Karácsony Gergely’s victory led him to become an advisor in the office of the mayor of Budapest.

Jámbor founded his blog Double Standard in 2008, from which Mérce emerged by 2017. To the casual observer, both appear to be leftist, Marxist social criticism sites. However, the founder transitioned from being an LMP activist and paid employee to an early supporter of the pro-capitalism Together-PM movement. He acknowledges his pivotal role in bringing LMP to parliament during his time as a party activist, online and mobilization coordinator.

Following a failure in 2014, Jámbor worked for civil organizations and estimates that he assisted over a hundred NGOs dating back to the late 2000s. He then established a partnership with Kiss Ambrus, the deputy mayor in charge of the capital’s budget in 2020, and became a member of parliament in 2022.

In terms of financing the Double Standard blog, a negligible amount of the seventy million revenue came from private individuals: 4.1 million from personal income tax donations (less than in 2022) and 13 thousand forints from membership fees (also less than the previous year), while the main amount increased by nearly eight million.

Among the supporters are the European Union, the Soros University, the Dutch Human Rights Foundation, and Journalismfund.eu.

It is worth noting the support received from the Hivos Foundation, which was specifically aimed at the organization. The program title is sensational: “Stabilize Mérce after attacks, before election year GO OPEN 00.0105/578.” According to the association’s 2023 report, the funds were received in reference to the upcoming 2024 election year. The EU, the United States, and the Netherlands are among Hivos’ financiers.

Furthermore, the Dutch government separately allocated over six million forints to the far-left portal, which also received nearly four million forints from Brussels through another channel and five thousand dollars from the Soros University for multi-year periods.

Finally, it is worth introducing another related funding channel. A year ago, Origo reported that the material discrediting the Dévai Szent Ferenc Foundation led by Csaba Böjte could also cover false abuse allegations by Kulcsár Árpád, who had previously been convicted of defamation. The journalist himself wrote on Facebook that he had entered into a cross-border “investigation” agreement with the far-left Mérce in early 2023, thanking the EU for the funding provided for this purpose.

The action received a backlash when Szabó Tünde and Kulcsár Árpád’s main source, a woman named Mónika, publicly apologized to the Franciscan priest on Facebook, stating that they had managed to remove toxic people who had targeted him.

In response to Origo’s questions, one of the authors of the discrediting material, Szabó Tünde, admitted that their articles on the matter “did not contain the whole truth.”

As to whether the EU taxpayers’ money will be refunded by Átlátszó Erdély and Mérce, no announcement has been made yet. However, it is clear from the above that Soros-funded financing channels are increasingly complementing and replacing those supported by Brussels in many dollar media outlets and dollar NGOs.