Budapest Forum 2026 - New Dynamics of Democratic Change - Panel Summaries

The sixth edition of the Budapest Forum, the joint event organized by the CEU Democracy Institute, the Municipality of Budapest, and Political Capital Institute focused this year on the dynamics of democratic renewal after illiberalism, the changing global security environment, and Europe’s challenging political future.

Since its launch in 2021, the Budapest Forum has become a key event on the international policy calendar, bringing together mayors, commissioners, MEPs, decision-makers, policy experts, academics, and activists.

Below you can find the recaps of all Budapest Forum 2026 panels, along with the video recordings:

• Opening speeches: Welcome address by Péter Krekó & keynote speeches by Carsten Q. Schneider and Gergely Karácsony
• Resilient Democracies in a Fractured World (in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung): Zoltán Tarr (keynote), Jan Philipp Albrecht, Péter Balázs, Sergey Lagodinsky, Randi Weingarten, Adéla Jurečková (Moderator)
• Cities Under Pressure: Municipal Resilience in an Age of Overlapping Crises: Thomas O. Melia, Kata Tüttő, Edit Inotai (Moderator)
• Between Washington, Brussels, and Taipei: Security in a Changing World (in cooperation with the Taipei Representative Office, Budapest): Tamás Csiki Varga, Roland Freudenstein, Ivana Karásková, I-Chung Lai, Bernadett Szél (Moderator)
• Europe’s 2027 Electoral Turning Point: Populism, Fragmentation and the Future of Mainstream Politics (in cooperation with Friedrich Naumann Foundation): Dániel Hegedűs, Leszek Jażdżewski, Gerald Knaus, Nathalie Tocci, Lars-André Richter (Moderator)
• After Illiberalism: Rebuilding Democratic Institutions and Reintegrating Hungary into Europe: Zoltán Fleck, Csaba Mányai, Kim Lane Scheppele, Renáta Uitz, Péter Krekó (Moderator)
• Is There a Common Central European Response to Today's Crises? Jakub Stefaniak (keynote), Botond Feledy, Dominika Hajdu, Zoltán Varga, Jakub Wisniewski, Zsuzsanna Szelényi (Moderator)
• Lessons from the Past: What Does the Revolution of 1956 Teach Us about the Crises we are Facing Today? (in Hungarian): Krisztián Ungváry (lecture)
• Narratives of the Past, Struggles of the Present: Democracy and Social Cohesion in Hungary (in Hungarian): Péter Csunderlik, István Hegedűs, Andrea Szabó, Benedek Jávor (Moderator)