Based on the success of the last years, the Budapest Forum will return on September 18-19, 2024. As before, the conference is organized by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital, and the CEU Democracy Institute to discuss the most pressing issues currently facing citizens of democratic and nominally democratic countries.
It will address topics including
- the upcoming US and the recent EU elections
- the future of Europe and EU enlargement
- Russia and its war in Ukraine
- populism, authoritarianism, dictatorship
- political polarization
- what would happen if China invaded Taiwan
- the rule of law in Poland
For a detailed program, please click here.
If you would like to attend the conference, please register here.
Based on the success of the last years, the Budapest Forum will return on September 18-19, 2024. As before, the conference is organized by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital, and the CEU Democracy Institute to discuss the most pressing issues currently facing citizens of democratic and nominally democratic countries.
The Budapest Forum has hit the international policy event scene in the last three years gathering mayors, commissioners, MEPs, decision makers, policy experts, academics, and activists. The public interest was equally large with more than 450 in-person participants and almost 40.000 viewers online per year.
In 2024, we will focus on the topic of “The Year of Elections.” The elections in 2024 will profoundly influence our collective European experience and extend their impact beyond our borders. Against the backdrop of the rotating EU Presidency of Hungary and the establishment of the new European Commission, discussions on the rule of law, democracy, and the trajectory of European integration hold heightened significance.
The conference will feature a discussion on the foreign policy aspects of the upcoming US elections. The EU elections will be the focus of a panel featuring Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy. She will also deliver one of the opening speeches of the conference. US ambassador to Hungary David Pressman will also deliver a lecture.
DI Director Laszlo Bruszt will participate in a panel on EU enlargement. Barbara Grabowska-Moroz, the director of our Rule of Law Clinic, will discuss the rule of law in Poland with, among others, Polish Deputy Justice Minister Dariusz Mazur.
The issue of how to empower Europe will be discussed, among others, by the head of our Rule of Law Working Group Dimitry Kochenov and our Research Affiliate Peter Kreko.
Former Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda will open a panel organized by the DI on populism, authoritarianism and dictatorship, which will include, among others, Levente Littvay, one of the conveners of our Global Forum on Democracy and Development project; Mikal Hem, author of the book How to Be a Dictator: An Irreverent Guide, and our Research Affiliate Benjamin Novak as the moderator.
Another DI panel, one of the side events on political polarization will feature several DI fellows and affiliates, including keynote speaker Kirk Hawkins, another convener of our Global Forum on Democracy and Development project; Carlos Melendez, Murat Somer and Alexander Bor.
Our AUTHLIB project will have a panel on Illiberal Challengers of Liberal Democracy in Europe.
The mayors of Tirana and Zagreb will come together for a roundtable on green transition in the capitals of EU enlargement countries. Russia and the war in Ukraine will be the focus of a speech by Vladimir Milov, Russia's former Deputy Minister of Energy, an associate of the late Aleksei Navalny, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia last year in Russia, and of a panel featuring Oleksanda Azarkhina, a former minister from Ukraine. Well-known activist and author Eli Pariser will talk about the filter bubble; journalist and former parish priest Alexander Faludy will discuss the role of churches in authoritarianism, while Alice Evans, author of The Great Gender Divergence will address the question of a potential new global gender divide.
The conference's welcome address will be delivered by Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony.