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Programme

Day 1

8:00am          REGISTRATION OPENS

 

9:00am          INTRODUCTION

                      FRANK FUREDI

 

9:15am          WELCOME

                      ZOLTÁN SZALAI


9:30am          THEMED KEYNOTES: FIGHTING FOR THE SOUL OF EUROPE


What is Europe? EU elites speak of “European values” like democracy and human rights – but it is clear that they both don’t really believe in democracy, and that their European values leave out the true achievements of European civilisation like culture, sovereignty, industry, tradition, religion and freedom. 

We know what we are fighting against – but what is it that European patriots are fighting for?


Speakers include:

  • Monika Gabriela Bartoszewicz, Societal security expert, UiT University Norway (PL)
  • Francesco Giubilei, President, Tatarella Foundation and Nazione Futura (IT)
  • Andrej Lokar, Essayist; president, Arts and Culture Association Kdo (SI)
  • Nicholas Tate, Independent scholar, author, adviser, Learning Institute, MCC Budapest (UK)

 

10:45am          Coffee Break

 

11:15am         PLENARY ADDRESS: RYSZARD LEGUTKO 

 

11:45pm         THEMED KEYNOTES: DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK:
                       HOW TO RESPOND TO ELECTION INTERFERENCE


The European Commission talks incessantly about foreign election interference and in December 2024 the European Parliament's special committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) was set up to produce proposals to counter foreign information manipulation, support independent media and journalists and protect civil society. But as we have seen time and again, the EU supports media and NGOs that promote its federalist narratives and is only too happy to see parties and candidates banned from standing that offer an alternative vision. How can we defend democracy from the EU’s election interference?

 

Speakers include:

  • Virginie Joron, MEP, RN, PfE (FR)
  • Jerzy Kwaśniewski, President, Ordo Iuris Institute; attorney (PL)
  • Norman Lewis, Visiting Research Fellow, MCC Brussels (UK)
  • Adam Starzynski, Editor, Visegrad 24 (PL / SE)


1:00pm          Lunch Break

 

2:00pm          PLENARY ADDRESS: PATRICK DENEEN

 

2:30pm          EUROPE VS AMERICA: THE END OF THE WEST?


Europe’s dependency on America has long troubled patriotic figures on this side of the ocean. But Trump’s dramatic second term has changed the conversation. Many national conservative movements are looking to America not as a competitor, but as an inspiration. Likewise, MAGA Americans are looking to capitalise on widespread discontent with the EU’s globalist aspirations – hoping for and supporting more conservative figures. 


But beneath the surface, the old problems have not gone away. America is still ruthless at promoting its economic and energy interests on the European continent. Europe is weak and ever-more-dependent on the USA. Patriots on both sides of the Atlantic might agree on issues like transgender ideology, the war in Ukraine, and migration controls. But will they agree on how to deal with China, the dominance of American big tech, or energy security? Can the historic alliance between Europe and America survive an era of assertive national interest? 


Speakers include:

  • Mick Hume, Editor, The European Conservative (UK)
  • Werner Patzelt, Visiting Professor of Research, MCC Brussels (DE)
  • Pedro Frazão, Member of Parliament; Vice President, Chega party (PT)
  • Gladden Pappin, President, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (US)

 

3:45pm          Coffee Break

 

4:10pm          PLENARY ADDRESS: VÁCLAV KLAUS

 

4:30pm          THEMED KEYNOTES: PATRIOTIC ECONOMICS:

                      REFORMING A SICK CONTINENT


European economic decline is the one fact that no-one dares address. Strangled by regulation, starved of innovation, afraid of taking risks – Europe is now the sick man of the world economy. EU elites have the economy on life support, with ever more debt injected to keep the continent ticking over.
But what does an alternative look like? Is the answer new tech, or reindustrialisation – or both? How to confront the entrenched interests that govern Europe? What would a European economy that delivers for ordinary Europeans look like?


Speakers include: 

  • Ralph Schoellhammer, Head of Center for Applied History, MCC Budapest (AT)
  • Andreas Svanlund, Chief Commercial Officer, SafeClean (NO)
  • Tomasz Wróblewski, President, Warsaw Enterprise Institute and journalist (PL)


5:45pm         TACKLING THE THREAT TO WESTERN CIVILISATION:

                     MELANIE PHILLIPS & JORGE BUXADÉ VILLALBA

 

6:30pm         END OF DAY ONE

Day 2

          

9:30am          PLENARY ADDRESS: MATHIEU BOCK-CÔTÉ

 

10:00am        THEMED KEYNOTES: AGAINST THE LANGUAGE POLICE: 

                      WHY WE MUST RECLAIM SPEECH


European elites are obsessed with regulating speech. A moral panic about “disinformation” and “election interference” has handed authorities unprecedented power to determine what can and cannot be said – online and off. But this is about more than social media – it’s a key part of the establishment’s attempt to blunt the patriotic fightback. By determining what can and cannot be said, they seek to control the fundamentals of democracy.
Europeans face a maze of national and international restrictions on speech – how can we overthrow the censorship regime, and why is free speech so fundamental?


Speakers include:

  • Alice Cordier, Activist; president and co-founder, Collectif Némésis (FR)
  • Thomas Fazi, Journalist and writer; author, columnist, UnHerd; contributing editor, Compact
  • Claire Fox, House of Lords; director, Academy of Ideas (UK)

 

11:10am         Coffee Break

 

11:30am         PLENARY ADDRESS: ANDRÁS LÁSZLÓ
 

11:45pm         THEMED KEYNOTES: IMMIGRATION AND REMIGRATION:

                       WHY BORDERS MATTER  


Even the EU is forced to concede that mass migration cannot continue. But their responses are timid and unlikely to change the fundamentals. Mass migration has radically reshaped Europe – unsafe cities, flagging economies, overstretched social services. What is to be done?
First, we must confront the legal regime which allows so-called asylum. Second, we must secure our borders. But even then – what to do with the millions who arrived in recent years. Some insist its time to speed up deportations – “remigration”.  
Is this too radical – or not radical enough?


Speakers include:

  • Fabrice Leggeri, MEP, RN, PfE; Former Director, European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FR)
  • Eoin Lenihan, Independent journalist; researcher and author (IE)

 

1:00pm          Lunch Break

 

2:00pm          PLENARY ADDRESS: TBC

 

2:30pm          THEMED KEYNOTES: WIELDING POWER: OVERCOMING THE DEEP STATE


Across Europe, in multiple countries, national conservative and populist parties have made significant gains. As well as overcoming the cordon sanitaire, these parties face a big question about their ability to actually transform European countries. The challenges are steep: economic decline, unstable geopolitics, and the barriers placed in their way by resistant bureaucracies, courts, and civil servants. Some insist they should follow the example of Trump 2.0 – come ready armed with a plan to tackle entrenched interests, upend the status quo, and smash the “deep state”. Others believe that European populists still need to address their “image problem” and avoid upsetting mainstream opinion.   

In Europe, what are the prospects for fundamental change and what are the challenges national conservative and populist parties must overcome to wield power?


Speakers include:

  • Matt Goodwin, Political scientist and author (UK)
  • Thierry Mariani, MEP, RN, PfE (FR)
  • Richard Schenk, Research fellow, MCC Brussels (DE) 

 

3:45pm          Coffee Break

 

4:15pm          NEXT GENERATION CONSERVATIVES: SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY

                      

4:45pm          PLENARY ADDRESS: BALÁZS ORBÁN


5:15pm          THEMED KEYNOTES: WHY WE MUST WIN THE CULTURE WAR


Lurking underneath all discussions is the question of the culture war. Europe’s values, history, and identity are under relentless attack from an elite class who disdain everything that ordinary people hold dear. Family life is attacked, replaced by its “rainbow” version; our history is condemned, denigrated as racism; education is diluted, so our children barely know their own language.
Fighting the culture war is not a luxury. It has become essential to the hopes of any patriotic renaissance.

 

Speakers include:

  • Miriam Cates, TV Presenter, GB News (UK)
  • Balázs Hidvéghi, Deputy Minister; Parliamentary State Secretary, Cabinet Office Of The Prime Minister (HU)
  • Alex Pesey, Founder and executive director, Institut de Formation Politique (FR)
  • Jacob Reynolds, Head of policy, MCC Brussels; associate fellow, Academy of Ideas (UK)

 

6:30pm         END OF CONFERENCE PARTY

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