Not Brussels, Not Berlin, Not Paris: Budapest Is the Capital of Conservative Europe

It would be easy to misunderstand the significance of CPAC Hungary 2026 if someone were to view it as just another international conference. The event in Budapest, held for the fifth time on March 21, said much more about the current political state of Europe than one might first think. 

The Hungarian edition of CPAC, originally an American gathering of conservative forces, which its official website presents as the largest and most influential conservative meeting in the world, has now become not an exotic spin-off but an independent political force.

What many thought a few years ago was a one-off political gesture, a provocative international performance or a copycat, has become a veritable institution by 2026. The fact that CPAC Hungary is returning to Budapest for the fifth time indicates that Hungary is no longer just an interesting exception within the international Right, but a stable reference point. Such an event does not survive for five years out of mere politeness. It survives if there is real political demand, intellectual attraction, and strategic interest around it.

It would therefore be misleading to limit the significance of CPAC to that of a traditional conference. It is much more: it is a political meeting place, an international networking platform, and an intellectual point of orientation at the same time. In the American conservative world, CPAC has for decades been a forum where not only speeches are delivered but also where the strategic directions facing the Right are outlined: emerging actors, defining issues, and the political narrative that may shape the debates of the coming period become visible. In a European context, the message of CPAC Hungary is therefore particularly strong: Budapest is no longer a mere observer but a shaper of this international political realignment.

This year’s list of participants demonstrated that the Budapest CPAC is more than a regional political event. In addition to Viktor Orbán, speakers included Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Argentine President Javier Milei, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as several influential European right-wing figures such as Alice Weidel, Santiago Abascal, Geert Wilders, Herbert Kickl, André Ventura, and Tom Van Grieken, as well as American Republican politicians and conservative media figures. This list is evidence that Budapest is now an international connection point where different countries, political traditions, and right-wing trends are looking for a common language.

That is why the question is not why they came to Budapest, but why Budapest has become the location where this intellectual community can gather. Why not Brussels, the symbolic center of European institutional power? Why not Berlin or Paris, which have for a long time unquestionably set the political guidelines of the continent? 

The answer lies in the fact that Budapest today embodies an ideology that the international Right is paying increasing attention to: here, sovereigntist, immigration-critical, and national-conservative politics are not persecuted or despised views but permanently enforced government practice. In other European countries, these ideas are often still barely tolerated or condemned as opposition alternatives, whereas in Hungary, they have long been defining elements of the political system. In this sense, Budapest has become a counter-symbol to Brussels, which today stands for EU centralization, technocratic decision-making, and the narrowing of the nation-states’ room for maneuver. Berlin and Paris remain great power centers, but, in a political sense, they embody the old Western Europe, which on many issues is more defensive than proactive. Budapest, on the other hand, embodies the demands of a different Europe: the view that the future of the continent should be rethought not on the basis of imperial coordination, but on the basis of strong nation-states, cultural identity, and democratic empowerment. CPAC Hungary is therefore not simply a choice of location but a political statement about where one of the most important intellectual outposts of the European Right is today.

And this is not just the opinion of the Hungarian organizers: a few days before the event, even liberal Le Monde wrote that Budapest had become a central meeting point for Western nationalist and conservative forces. This is particularly noteworthy because it is not a sympathetic interpretation but an admission by a critical foreign newspaper. 

The personal importance of Viktor Orbán cannot be overlooked in this context. For the international Right, the Hungarian prime minister is a reference point not because he makes grandiose claims, but because he presents a working political model. There are few European leaders who are simultaneously watched by the American Republican world, the Western European sovereigntist community, Central European patriotic circles, and the international conservative media space. As Reuters phrased it, Orbán is also considered a role model by several figures on the American Right because of his strict immigration policy and Christian-conservative governance. 

Viktor Orbán’s weight cannot therefore be measured only by domestic standards. In Europe today, many politicians talk about sovereignty, curbing migration, cultural self-defense, or limiting Brussels’ overpowering power, but there are far fewer who implement these concepts into policy. Orbán is a precedent in this respect. He is not a theoretician, not an opposition commentator, and not a short-lived phenomenon, but a long-serving prime minister who has grown into an international political reference point. CPAC Hungary makes this fact spectacular every year: in Budapest, they are not just celebrating a politician but studying a working model.

Of course, this does not mean that the world’s Right is unified. The significance of CPAC Hungary lies precisely in its ability to bring a multi-faceted, geographically and politically diverse camp into a common space. There are plenty of differences between Wilders’ Dutch direction, Abascal’s Spanish path, the Austrian, Portuguese, German, Polish, or American Right. But there are a few issues that now bring them to a common platform: the rejection of illegal migration, the defense of national sovereignty, the rejection of progressive cultural pressure, and the conviction that the future of Europe and the West cannot be decided exclusively in the old elite centers.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that CPAC Hungary 2026 is no longer a defensive event. It is not about the international Right explaining its existence, nor is it about Budapest trying to draw attention to itself from some periphery. It is much more about the emergence of an independent political center, with which more and more actors are aligning themselves. Budapest is important today for the world’s Right because sovereignty is no longer just a topic of conversation here but has become a political organizing principle. This is what distinguishes the Hungarian capital from Brussels, Berlin, or Paris.

CPAC Hungary 2026 is ultimately not just a conference but a status report on the transformation of the West: the international centers of right-wing politics are no longer automatically located where the old institutional authority is. And also that Viktor Orbán’s influence extends far beyond the borders of Hungary: for the international sovereigntist camp, he is today one of the most important proofs that patriotic politics is viable not only as a form of protest but also as a form of government. If anyone wants to understand why all of Europe is paying attention to Budapest, they only need to look at this year’s CPAC lineup. The answer was right there on the stage.