Orbán's European right-wing conference in Brussels loses second venue

At this point it is unclear where the National Conservatism Conference 2024 (NATCON), originally planned for April 16th and 17th, organised by Mathias Corvinus Collegium's Brussels' office would be held. After the original venue withdrew ​its permission due to pressure from anti-fascist organisations, the event was moved to the Hotel Sofitel Brussels Europa. However, after examining "the nature of the event and who the invitees are," the second potential venue also stepped back from hosting the conference, hvg.hu has learned.

This is the second time the organisers of the event have found themselves in this predicament. The management of the originally planned location, Concert Noble informed them last weekend that they wouldn't be able to meet there. At the time, the director of MCC's Brussels centre said that the decision was in effect starting a war against the freedom of speech, against which all sensible people should protest.

Other than Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the planned keynote speakers include former British MEP Nigel Farage, former Polish PM Mateusz Morawieczki and French far-right politician Eric Zemmour.

The event has received much public attention, with antifascist groups even having planned to hold protests in front of the new venue. When they found out that the mayor of Etterbeek, Vincent de Wolf had notified Sofitel about the kind of conference this would be, and the hotel stepped back, the organisers of the antifascist protest sent a message to MCC noting that if NATCON 24 ends up being cancelled altogether, they would hold a big celebration in Brussels.