The Western world is facing a myriad of dangers, from economic challenges to mass migration and geopolitical conflicts and wars, while traditional values are being threatened by the globalist Left, making a deeper cooperation of conservative forces is more vital than ever.
This was the main message of the Transatlantic Patriot Summit held in Budapest on Saturday, April 27th. The conference was hosted by the Danube Institute in Budapest, and jointly organised by a host of conservative youth organisations from around the world.
In his opening speech, Gergely Dobozi, Senior Researcher at the Danube Institute, urged conservative forces worldwide to unite at a time when the West faces challenges such as illegal migration on a mass scale, wars in Ukraine and Israel, demographic decline, and the erosion of the sanctity of life. While the global Left does not have the correct solutions, its narratives are ever-present in English-language media outlets and online streaming platforms, he announced:
The threat from the global Left is a common theme at many international conferences I’ve attended. Whether I’m watching Netflix, Disney+, or HBO Max, or sitting in a movie theatre trying to enjoy a Star Wars or Harry Potter movie, I can see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears that the global Left is a real thing. But what about a global Right or global conservatism? Even as conservatives rightly criticise certain aspects of globalism, it’s an issue worth considering.
From the standpoint of political change, András László of the Hungarian conservative ruling party Fidesz ―who is running for a seat in the European Parliament―emphasised the importance of the European elections in June, and the U.S. presidential elections in November:
It is up to us to fight and take back our countries and the EU.
Exactly twenty years ago, Hungary and other Central European nations joined the European Union
László reminded his audience that this process promised prosperity, stability, peace―but now we couldn’t be further away from these promises. Europe has stagnating national economies, decreasing industrial output, and almost nobody is talking about the need for peace, with the war raging for more than two years in Ukraine. He also urged right-wing forces to unite, and to not let political divisions infiltrate their cooperation against the globalist Left.
One of the threats facing Europe is demographic decline and the Left’s attacks on traditional family values. The Left wants to disrupt society, to destroy communities, because people living without communities and values can be influenced more easily,” said Barbara Hegedűs of Fidesz’s youth wing Fidelitas, reminding the audience that the Hungarian conservative government has been supporting families through all sorts of financial incentives, motivating young couples to have more children.
Tom Lamont of the Flemish Vlaams Belang Jongeren agreed, saying”strong families create strong civilisations, that’s why the Left is attacking families. If you take away the family, you don’t have anything left to fight for.” He also talked about the need for conservatives to be more involved with strengthening European nation’s cultural identities, because culture has been dominated by the Left.
Davide Quadri of the Italian Lega Giovani highlighted the fact that in his country the Left took over cultural institutions and public television when they were in power, influencing cultural discourse, something the Right has to be brave enough to do as well.
With regards to mass migration―one of the biggest threats Europe is dealing with―speakers at the conference described how left-wing governments and parties are trying to benefit politically from the crisis. Moritz Greiner of the Austrian Freheitlicher Jugend said there is a large Muslim community in Vienna due to the fact that the capital’s ruling socialists have been ”giving them everything” in exchange for their votes. He also spoke about his country’s Muslim justice minister, Green party politician Alma Zadić, who has been pushing a liberal agenda, doing everything she can to stop illegal immigrants from being deported. Schwaighofer concluded by saying it is no wonder that the right-wing, anti-immigration FPÖ party is leading the polls in Austria.
Nikola Zborilova of the Czech youth organisation Mladí Espéďáci warned of the dangers of the EU’s Migration and Asylum pact―recently adopted by the European Parliament―saying the pact will force member states to accept migrants based on predetermined quotas, and pay a fine if they refuse to do so. However, Czech citizens generally don’t want mass migration from outside Europe.
Ciprijan Crljenko of the Croatian Mladi Domovinskog Pokreta group said conservative forces have to fight against migration quotas. He emphasised that his country, after joining the open-border Schengen Area last year, has had to protect the outer borders of the EU, because it is an attractive destination for migrants seeking to enter the bloc from the south.
Gavin Wax of the U.S.-based Young Republicans also touched on the issue, saying migration is the most pressing issue of our time, especially in the West, with the current Joe Biden-led U.S. administration letting in 15 million illegal migrants in four years. ”If you have no borders, you have no country,” he said, adding that the Left decided to gain voters not by trying to persuade native voters but by replacing them on a massive scale. Left-wing voters who care about their families have left the Democratic Party and are voting for Republican Donald Trump.
Participants in the debate agreed that reelecting Trump would have a positive effect not only on America but other parts of the world. Raz Granot of the Israeli Likud Youth said while Democrat Barack Obama was busy trying to make democracies out of autocratic Islamic nations in the Middle East, Trump actually achieved peace through power and trade initiatives, culminating in the Abraham Accords of 2020.
