Day 1 of CPAC Hungary brought together a truly international roster of speakers. We had people on stage from Georgia, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Denmark, and many from the United States—and that’s not even the full list!
Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, for instance, happens to be from the Czech Republic. He too noted the international line-up of CPAC Hungary, calling it a ’truly global event’. He then went on to spend most of his time on stage commenting on the EU’s current state of affairs, mostly in a negative tone. He was especially critical of the Union’s environmentalist agenda, which is destroying its economy, in his opinion.
He also outlined the scary aspect of a so-called ‘environmental social score’ being introduced,
modelled after China’s state-control programme. As for his positive views of the EU, former PM Babiš would like to see nations from the West Balkan added; as well as ‘a well-protected border outside, free movement inside’.
The schedule alternated between single speakers delivering speeches and panel discussions. For the former, Gladden Pappin (Incoming President of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs), Jovan Palalić (General Secretary of SNP, Serbia), Francesco Giubilei (President of Nazione Futura, Italy), and Péter Törcsi (Operative Director of the Center for Fundamental Rights) took the stage. Their topic of discussion was the ever-so-pervasive woke ideology. Giubilei shared some optimism, opining that in next year’s election, a conservative majority can be obtained in the European Parliament. Pappin joined in the optimism, stating that
wokeism is a virus, and ’viruses go away eventually’.
Stephen Bartulica, a Member of Parliament in Croatia, likened today’s woke ideology to communism—and that, as we all know, failed eventually. Bartulica thinks the same can happen to wokeism. He also recalled the success of a movement his party, Domovinski pokret (Homeland Movement), spearheaded which resulted in the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, being included in Croatia’s constitution, as voted on by the people in a referendum. About Hungary, he had this to say:
‘There are many reasons Hungary is vilified in Western media. Perhaps the main reason is that your government, the government of Viktor Orbán, boldly defends your nation’s Christian history and identity. This is simply not acceptable to the elites in Brussels, Washington D.C., and other centres of power.’
Judit Varga Emphasises Freedom of Expression in Hungary
Some illustrious female speakers got the chance to speak at the event as well. Dr Shea Bradley-Farrell, the president of the Counterpoint Institute, was interviewed by Fox News’ Sara Carter. The two mostly discussed national identity, and the need for each nation to serve its own interest first.
To close the day, Hungarian Minister of Justice Judit Varga took the floor. She described her nation as ‘an island where freedom still lives’. She then cited Tucket Carlson, Fox’s recently fired top-rated news anchor who sent a video message to CPAC Hungary earlier, referring to Hungary as ‘one of the last bastions of democracy in the West’. All this was said in the context of the hostile way leftist activists are trying to ‘cancel’ people with dissenting views; as well as the punitive measures the EU is trying to impose on Hungary after the passing of the Child Protection Act.
Varga talked about the source of this concentrated leftist power, most of which comes from large NGOs. In her recanting of events, these civil groups were founded after the presidency of Ronald Reagan to help Eastern-European nations after the fall of the communist regime.
However, they were quickly co-opted by scheming elites
who started using them to push their own agendas. Now, along with mainstream media outlets, they form ‘an octopus with 100 tentacles that we have to fight’, as Varga described them.
‘Conservative countries are the homes of order. Where there is no order, there is no security either, and where there’s no security, freedom will be jeopardised soon. The progressivist woke and, included in that, gender ideology is cutting these very roots, this freedom and security, in order to divide the identity of the nation, the individual, and the child into smaller and smaller pieces,’
Minister Varga declared.
