The head of the FPÖ delegation in the European Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, appeared together with British Brexit lawyer Nigel Farage at a benefit dinner of a well-known right-wing think tank in the US, the British newspaper The Guardian reports.
As the Guardian reported online on Saturday, Vilimsky spoke at a dinner at a Chicago hotel on Friday. The think tank is the Heartland Institute.
Focus on climate change denial
The organization was funded by the tobacco industry in the 1990s and fought against the smoking ban at the time. Supported by the (oil) industry, the focus in recent years has been on denying climate change itself or man-made climate factors.
“A whole bunch of donors have turned away since a Heartland campaign equated climate activists with terrorists,” wrote the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger” about the think tank three years ago. Other media reports speak of “systematic disinformation” about global warming.
According to the Guardian, the dinner was to raise money for the Heartland Institute’s 40th anniversary. A single ticket costs $199 (£160), while a full table starts at $4,000 (£3,500). The “platinum table” Farage sat at cost $50,000 (£42,000). Farage, who sits in the British parliament for his Reform UK party, was the keynote speaker.
Vilimsky is listed as a spokesperson on the website
But Vilimsky is also listed as one of the speakers from the Heartland Institute. Next to a photo of the MEP it says: Vilimsky and Heartland would work together – “especially when it comes to countering climate alarmism and senseless, ‘green’ energy policies in Europe.”
The multi-billion dollar lobby of climate change deniers from the US has long been reaching out to Europe and has found willing partners in several right-wing populist parties, such as the FPÖ or the German AfD.
It is therefore no wonder that the arguments used by the PVV with regard to global warming are often strongly reminiscent of the most important institutes of climate deniers – including the aforementioned Heartland Institute or the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
