In January, De Telegraaf led with a story about an alleged lobbying scandal in Brussels: the European Commission was allegedly paying environmental organizations to influence MEPs. Politicians reacted with outrage, and the news spread throughout Europe. Journalists and the European Commission largely debunked the story, but MEPs continued to use it to make their case. NGOs in Brussels see this as a pattern of political attacks, similar to what previously occurred in Poland, Hungary, and under Trump.