‘Eurosceptic Internationale’ at the gates of Brussels?

The state and outlook of populist alliance-building across the EU and Hungary’s role in it

An online public event by Political Capital and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Date: 22 November 2023, 15:00-16:30

Venue: Zoom

Language: English

Probably the biggest question of the next European Parliament (EP) election will be the performance of Eurosceptic populist radical right parties and their possible cooperation with mainstream forces. According to polling data, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) can become the fourth-biggest group in the next EP, with a significant gain compared to 2019. Should the Hungarian governing party Fidesz join their ranks, they could become the third-biggest group.

The Hungarian government has invested significant efforts in building new political alliances. Viktor Orbán wants to prevent criticism and prosecutions for dismantling the rule of law and break out of isolation through a possible Europe-wide radical populist right cooperation and breakthrough in 2024. These parties extensively coordinate their messaging and support each other in campaigns to increase their election performance and bring about hegemonic change both at the national and EU levels. Such a change would undermine several key EU policies, e.g., support for Ukraine, fighting the climate crisis, reaching gender equality, protecting human rights and the Rule of Law.

This online public panel discussion aims to shed light on the latest developments in Eurosceptic populist parties’ alliance-building and the Orbán regime’s influence-building and discuss the outlook at the EP elections.

Agenda

15:00-15:10        Welcome by Adéla Jurečková, director of HBS’ Prague Office and Péter Krekó, director of Political Capital Institute

15:10-15:25        Presentation of Political Capital’s new study on the topic (Political Capital)

15:25-16:15        Panel discussion

• Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, MEP, Greens/EFA
• Steven Forti, lecturer, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
• Zsuzsanna Végh. visiting fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
• Karolina Zbytniewska, editor-in-chief, EURACTIV.pl
• Moderated by Bulcsú Hunyadi, head of programmes, Political Capital

16:15-16:30        Q&A

Please register for the event here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dp7oeP9dSUmtgZbZFF_E4w