Budapest Forum 2025 - Building sustainable democracies
A joint event by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital and the CEU Democracy Institute
Date: 17 September 2025, 9:30-19:30
Venue: H-1051 Budapest, Nádor street 15.
Language: English and Hungarian (with translation)
To join the event, please register here.
Based on the success of the last years, Budapest Forum will return in 2025. The conference will be organized again by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital, and CEU Democracy Institute to discuss the most pressing issues currently facing citizens of democratic and nominally democratic countries. The Forum will explore and examine policy proposals under the banner of ‘Building Sustainable Democracies’.
The Budapest Forum has emerged as a key player in the international policy event scene over the last four years, bringing together mayors, commissioners, MEPs, decision-makers, policy experts, academics, and activists for 15-20 panels and sessions per year, as well as multiple side events and discussions. The public interest was equally large, with more than 450 in-person participants per year and almost 40.000 viewers online per year, as well as hundreds of Hungarian and international media appearances. The feedback from participants and partners was very positive, highlighting the organizational quality, impressive line-up, thematic diversity and hitting a niche with the role of cities in addressing the most pressing challenges of our time.
The 2025 Budapest Forum proposes to examine the growing role of geopolitics in shaping international relations. Among the many topics we intend to address are the shifting dynamics of transatlantic cooperation, the transformation of the global economic landscape, and the increasingly urgent questions surrounding war and peace. In addition, we aim to explore how democratic societies can respond to the complex challenges they face in this evolving geopolitical environment.
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 palpable interest that we have seen in the last years, attests that we are on the right path when we seek to galvanize policy debates across borders and levels of government and provide a joint platform for all relevant stakeholders in search of a sustainable and democratic future.
We, as co-organizing partners, the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital Institute and CEU Democracy Institute, will draw upon this valuable experience this year when organizing the fifth Budapest Forum, scheduled for 17 September. We are looking forward to expanding our growing Budapest Forum network with the most impactful changemakers.
Agenda
09:30-09:40 Opening speeches
Carsten Q. Schneider - Interim President and Rector, CEU
János Kendernay – Senior Adviser on City Diplomacy, Budapest City Hall
Péter Krekó – Director, Political Capital Institute; Senior Fellow, CEPA
09:40-10:00 Welcome speech
Gergely Karácsony – Mayor of Budapest
10:00-11:00 Markets under pressure: The economic impact of the return of geopolitics (In partnership with the Taipei Representative Office in Budapest)
Tamás Matura – Associate Professor, Corvinus University
Ming-chin Monique Chu – Lecturer in Chinese Politics, University of Southampton
Krisztián Orbán – Managing Partner, Oriens
Richard Turcsányi – Program Director, Central European Institute of Asian Studies
Moderator: Lili Takács – Journalist, 444.hu
11:00-12:00 Liveable, innovative and climate neutral: How do cities respond to a changing climate? (In partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Peter Kraus – Co- Leader, The Green Party Vienna, City Councillor and Member of the State Government Vienna
Diána Kupper – Green Finance Expert, Global Green Growth Institute Hungary
Diana Ürge-Vorsatz – Professor, Central European University
Attila Varga – Habil. Associate Professor, Eötvös Loránd University
Moderator: Adela Jurečková – Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Prague
12:00-12:45 Lunch break
12:45-13:45 European Political Trends from different mainstream points of view (In partnership with Friedrich Naumann Foundation)
Michal Šimečka – President of Progressive Slovakia, Member of the National Council of Slovakia
Pawel Zerka – Senior policy fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations
Moderator: Lars-André Richter – Director, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Prague
13:45-14:45 Understanding populist electorates: Who votes populists (back) into office, and why?
Keynote speech by Ivan Krastev – Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies
Maciej Kisilowski – Associate Professor, Faculty Director, CEU
Ivan Krastev – Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies
Raluca Nicoleta Radu – Professor, University of Bucharest
Gábor Scheiring – Assistant Professor, Comparative Politics at Georgetown University Qatar
Moderator: TBC
14:45-15:45 Truth Under Threat: Defense of Democracy and Safeguarding Democratic Resilience Against Disinformation in an era of geopolitical mayhem
Art O’Leary – CEO, Electoral Commission of Ireland
Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach – Global Engagement strategist, Free Press Unlimited, Fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis
Ágnes Urbán - Associate Professor, Corvinus University
Moderator: Péter Krekó – Director, Political Capital Institute, Fellow, GMFUS
15:45-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-16:30 Transformation of the global security scene and the future position of Europe (In partnership with the ERSTE - IWM Europe's Futures fellowship program)
Interview with Ambassador James O’Brien – Former Head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State:
Interviewer: Zsuzsanna Szelényi - Former politician, Program Director, CEU Democracy Institute
16:30-17:30 The future of Ukraine in Europe
Ambassador James O’Brien – Former Head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State
Dorka Takácsy – Researcher, Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy
Renáta Uitz – Senior Research Fellow, CEU Democracy Institute, Professor of Law and Government, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator: Zsuzsanna Végh – Program Officer, German Marshall Fund
17:30-18:30 The Changing Face of Civic Resistance in Illiberal Regimes: Cases from the Western Balkans
Andi Dobrushi – Director, Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans
Srđan Cvijić – President, International Advisory Committee of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Vujo Ilić – Research Fellow, Assistant Director, Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Ferenc Németh – Western Balkans expert, PhD student at the Doctoral School of International Relations and Political Science, Corvinus University
Moderator: Una Hajdari – Journalist, Politico
18:30-19:30 Hungary’s political climate before the elections (in Hungarian)
Eszter Kováts – Researcher, University of Vienna
Nóra Schultz – Political Consultant, Podcast Host, Partizán
Andrea Szabó – Director, Institute for Political Science, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences
Moderator: Szabolcs Dull – Political Analyst, Journalist
For more details, please visit the Budapest Forum website.
RSVP: Register to attend the Forum here.
