I once attended an event about energy supply and generation in Europe at the leading Brussels think tank. The event was sponsored by a large Russian energy company. One of the think tank directors illustrated the general dubiousness beautifully. I was standing in a group with the director at the drink’s reception after the event. He was nervously bantering away, making a point out of the fact that his renowned think tank had so many paying members that it could not afford to push only one position. With a small giggle he then added that the event in question was an exception because ‘the Russians’ had offered so much money, it was impossible to resist.

In a similar vein, a leading think tank published an inaccurate paper on the reform of European agriculture leading to quite some opposition from farming groups. In response to criticism of the paper, the person working at the think tank who had drafted the paper commented that it was in line with the Commission strategy and along the lines of what they agreed with them. So much for independent thinking.