Budapest Forum 2024: Building Sustainable Democracies; 18-19th September
On 18-19 September 2024, the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital and the CEU Democracy Institute will once again play host to the Budapest Forum, an annual pro-democracy conference, which has grown in size and strength since its launch in 2021.
The two-day conference, which will bring together mayors, commissioners, MEPs, decision-makers, policy experts, academics, and grassroots activists, will discuss the most pressing issues currently facing citizens of democratic and nominally democratic countries. The Forum is a markedly pro-democratic, anti-populist Central Eastern European platform, and seeks to examine policy proposals under the banner of ‘Building Sustainable Democracies’.
Under the overarching theme of "The Year of Elections," the event panels will examine how the 2024 elections are set to shape our collective European experience and impact beyond our borders. With Hungary currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe, discussions on the rule of law, democracy, media capture, US elections, Russia’s future, and the trajectory of European integration will be central to the discussions.
Key speakers at the 2024 Budapest Forum include:
Alberto Alemanno, Professor of EU law at HEC Paris
Oleksandra Azarkhina, Former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development
László Bruszt, Director of the Central European University Democracy Institute
Mikuláš Dzurinda, former Prime Minister of Slovakia and current head of the Martens Center
Gert Jan Koopman, Director-General Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR)
Dariusz Mazur, Deputy Minister of Justice in Poland
Vladimir Milov, Former Deputy Minister of Energy, Russian Federation
Eli Pariser, Founder of Awaaz and author of Beware Online “filter bubbles”; Director, moveon.org
David Pressman, Ambassador of the United States to Hungary
Zsuzsanna Szelényi, former Fidesz MP, foreign policy expert, and program director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy
Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali
You can see the full conference agenda here.
Last year’s event, which is available to view online, attracted intense attention from policymakers and international media, with nearly 5,000 attendees and 40,000 online viewers.
Ahead of the 2024 event, Péter Krekó, Director of the Political Capital Institute, said:
“Our democracies face mounting challenges exacerbated by various internal and external factors. While some tensions are deliberately stoked by populist movements, others stem from organic societal shifts, necessitating a unified approach and extensive collaboration to navigate. In the forthcoming Budapest Forum conference, we aim to confront these challenges alongside global decision-makers and experts. Together, we seek to steer discussions and formulate impactful policy solutions that address the evolving dynamics of our democracies and the European integration process.
“Budapest Forum is a markedly pro-democratic, anti-populist Central Eastern European platform. After the success of last year’s policy-heavy discussions focusing on the most pressing challenges democracy is facing today, we are convinced that it is not only the multitude of crises that define our time but also the commitment and the intellectual prowess of broad segments of our societies to tackle these crises.”
The event is jointly organized by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital, and CEU Democracy Institute. The conference will be held at CEU Nádor Event Center, at the Central European University in Budapest, and conducted in English and Hungarian.
AGENDA: You can find the latest agenda and a full list of confirmed speakers here.
RSVP: You can register to attend the forum here.
