Patriots' Grand Assembly and fifth CPAC Hungary to gather European right-wing leaders in Budapest

The leaders of the Patriots for Europe (PfE) will hold a grand assembly on 23 March at Budapest’s Millenáris Park, the Foundation for a Civic Hungary, which is organizing the event, announced on Wednesday. The keynote speaker of the event will be Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

According to the press release, speakers will also include Marine Le Pen, parliamentary group leader of France’s National Rally; Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the right-wing League Party Matteo Salvini; Santiago Abascal, president of Spain’s Vox party; Herbert Kickl, chairman of the Austrian Freedom Party, and Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party.

The programme is scheduled to begin at 10 AM with a conference at the Parliament titled: “The Right to Decide: Migration and Sovereignty.” The opening speech will be given by Kinga Gál, first vice-chair of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, followed by presentations from Gergely Gulyás, Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, and János Bóka, Minister for European Union Affairs. The closing remarks of the conference will be delivered by László Kövér, Speaker of the National Assembly, according to the press release.

The event will continue in the afternoon at Millenáris Park, where visitors are welcome as of 12 noon to explore thematic pavilions showcasing various aspects of Hungarian science, culture, public life, and tourism. According to information on the event’s website, exhibitors will include the 21st Century Institute, the Center for Fundamental Rights, the Axioma Center, the Danube Institute, the Christian Democratic Institute, the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, the Nézőpont Institute, Századvég, and the St. Stephen Institute. In addition, the Digital Civic Circles will also present their activities and communities.

A few days before the PfE grand assembly, on 21 March, Budapest will also be hosting the fifth CPAC Hungary conference. The event is modeled after the annual gathering of the American right wing known as CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) which has been held since the 1970’s. In the last decade, they have begun to expand and have lent their name to several smaller right-wing conferences around the world, the Hungarian event being one of them.

CPAC Hungary is organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights, (Alapjogokért Központ), an organization heavily funded by public funds. In the past, the event has included speakers such as Alice Weidel, co-chair of Germany's AfD; Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, conservative American influencer Ben Shapiro or the American TV host, Tucker Carlson.

Only some of the speakers for this year have been announced, these include Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieczki.

On CPAC Hungary’s website, the conference is described as “an event that brings together the world's patriots…a global jamboree that is anti-globalist.” The organizers claim that they “were Trump before Trump” and point out that it was at CPAC Hungary that the key phrase: "No migration! No gender! No war!" was first spoken.