It is high time to start building a close strategic partnership with the new member of the ‘Central European family’ that—as the only one of us—got a seat at the G7 table while it is fighting a heroic fight for freedom to regain its occupied territories: i.e., Ukraine.

According to Fidesz deputy group leader in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Zsolt Németh the future of conservatism in Europe is bright, as right-wingers on the continent are ‘coming closer together’; and that therefore the slogan of the Budapest seminar could rightly be ‘Conservatives of Europe, unite!’

Ferenc Kalmár said that unfortunately, in recent times, there has been regression rather than progress in the issue of national minorities on a global scale, and the Russo-Ukrainian war has further exacerbated the situation.

The confusing messaging of the US Embassy-sponsored billboards seems to erroneously imply that the Orbán administration is not in favour of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, when in fact the Hungarian government has repeatedly stated its public support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

To sum up, there are the so-called ideological ‘leftists’ who are in power in much of Europe, including Berlin and Paris, and there are the pragmatic ‘rightists who are in power in the Visegrád Group countries, especially in Budapest and Warsaw, but, for the time being, they are in opposition to most of Europe.