Authorities in Brussels attempted to shut down the National Conservatism (NatCon) Conference, which began this morning and was set to feature speeches by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and Nigel Farage, honorary president of the British Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party), as reported by POLITICO. The conference, held at the Claridge venue in Brussels, had been underway for two hours when law enforcement officials arrived and informed the organizers that the event was being terminated. Nigel Farage’s keynote speech was about to commence when the authorities appeared.
However, according to our correspondent Meg Hansen, the event is still ongoing, albeit with a disrupted schedule. The organizers are currently in negotiations with the police, who are considering a gradual shutdown approach. This means that participants may remain inside, but once they exit, they will not be permitted back in.
According to POLITICO, one police officer informed organizers that the event had to be halted due to concerns about potential public disorder. However,
the situation goes beyond mere security concerns.
Left-wing activists, led by the Socialist mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, have been actively working for days to obstruct the conference. Claridge’s marks the third venue change since the initial choice, Concert Noble, backed out in the last minute under pressure by Close. The second venue, luxury Sofitel hotel came under pressure by the liberal mayor of Etterbeek. Emir Kir, the mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, the Brussels district where Claridge is located, previously stated to POLITICO via email that he would ‘immediately take measures to ban’ the event.
‘It’s really something out of a tinpot dictatorship,’ Frank Füredi, Executive Director of MCC Brussels—the co-organizer of NatCon—told POLITICO. ‘They’re trying to use a technical reason to make a political point. They told the owner that if it doesn’t get shut down they’re going to cut the electricity,’ he added.
Balázs Orbán, the political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, also shared a post on X about the conference. ‘According to the #Brussels Left, we’re doing a radical thing: we’re exchanging ideas and having conversations. According to us, this is what #freespeech is all about.’
Certainly, the liberal progressive media did not refrain from joining the campaign against NatCon. Last week, POLITICO simply referred to the event as the ‘Orbán Conference.’ Additionally, a British media outlet accused Nigel Farage of 'Orbánizing' British politics. Furthermore, the Labour Party called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to prevent former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman—also scheduled as a keynote speaker at the conference—from ‘giving oxygen to divisive and dangerous individuals,’ such as Orbán, and ‘legitimising fringe far-right elements that threaten our cohesion and democracy.’
Yoram Hazony, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative US-based think tank and the main organizer of the event, denounced the Brussels regime for touting a big game about spreading democracy abroad, while clamping down on conservative voices at home. ‘If Brussels can’t host both sides of the argument,’ he concluded, ‘then maybe the capital of Europe can’t be in Brussels.’
Other speakers at the conference include Éric Zemmour, leader of the French right-wing Reconquête party, Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál, and Nicola Procaccini, Co-Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
The theme of this year’s conference revolves around the preservation of nation-states in Europe, a topic of utmost relevance given the impending European Parliament elections. The June elections will determine whether the EU governance can shift towards the right, establishing a right-wing, nation-state-oriented presence in the EP. This shift aims to replace the prevailing globalist, left-wing majority with a more pragmatic approach to cooperation rather than ideology. Given the recent surge of right-wing parties across Europe, it comes as no surprise that the
left is exerting considerable efforts to suppress dissent.
Since it was first organized in 2019, the NatCon Conference has gained an international reputation for bringing together key public figures, scholars, journalists, and other thought leaders of the right from the United States and Europe.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Joakim Scheffer
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.hungarianconservative.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.