Budapest Forum to examine democratic renewal, Europe’s future and 1956 memory

International political leaders, researchers and experts will gather in Budapest on Oct. 1 for Budapest Forum 2026, a CEU-hosted conference focused on democratic renewal after illiberalism, Europe’s political outlook and the changing global security environment. The event also adds a Hungary-specific discussion on post-illiberal recovery and a separate Hungarian-language track marking the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution.

Why it matters: - The Budapest Forum 2026 will bring democratic backsliding, institutional recovery and Europe’s political future into one conference setting. - The event aims to connect Hungary’s experience with broader questions about how democracies rebuild after years of pressure from economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability, migration, technology shifts and social polarization. - The program comes as organizers frame democratic renewal as a longer process than winning an election.

What happened: - Budapest Forum 2026 – New Dynamics of Democratic Change will take place Oct. 1 at the CEU building on Nádor utca in Budapest. - Budapest Főváros Önkormányzata, the Political Capital Institute and the CEU Democracy Institute are co-hosting the conference. - The conference will feature international political leaders, researchers and experts. - CEU President-Rector Carsten Q. Schneider and Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony will deliver remarks. - The event will be held in English, with consecutive interpretation into Hungarian available during the conference. - Two closing program items focused on 1956 and historical narratives will be conducted in Hungarian. - Journalists must register to attend, and one-on-one interviews may be arranged based on availability. - The media contact is Krisztina Fogas at fogask@ceu.edu. - A registration form for the event is available as the conference sign-up link.

The details: - A key panel will examine post-illiberal Hungary and the country’s reintegration into Europe. - Participants in that discussion include Kim Lane Scheppele of Princeton University, Zoltán Fleck of ELTE, European Parliament member Sergey Lagodinsky and Renáta Uitz of the CEU Democracy Institute. - Political Capital director Péter Krekó will moderate the panel. - The panel will look at institutional challenges tied to democratic recovery and possible international lessons. - Another discussion will focus on Europe ahead of the 2027 election year. - That panel will address rising populism, political fragmentation and the future of mainstream parties. - Speakers include Nathalie Tocci of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Dániel Hegedűs of the Institut für Europäische Politik, Jean-Yves Camus of the Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques and Leszek Jażdżewski, editor-in-chief of Liberté!. - Lars-André Richter of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Prague office will moderate. - A third panel will examine the changing world order and security environment from Washington, Brussels and Taipei perspectives. - The discussion will cover the evolving U.S.-Europe relationship, China’s growing geopolitical role and Taiwan’s security. - Participants include I-Chung Lai of Taiwan’s Prospect Foundation, Ivana Karásková of the Association for International Affairs, Roland Freudenstein of the Martens Center and Tamás Csiki Varga of the University of Public Service’s John Lukacs Institute for Politics and Strategy. - Szél Bernadett of the CEU Democracy Institute will moderate. - Another panel will focus on Central Europe’s place in the changing political and geopolitical environment. - The discussion will open with remarks by Jakub Stefaniak, state secretary in the Polish prime minister’s office. - Panelists include Feledy Botond of the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs, Jakub Wisniewski of the Wacław Felczak Institute, Zoltán Varga of Central Media Group and Dominika Hajdu of GLOBSEC. - Zsuzsanna Szelényi, program director at the CEU Democracy Institute, will moderate. - A separate session will examine how democratic societies can maintain resilience in a more divided and polarized geopolitical world. - Participants include former Hungarian foreign minister and European commissioner Péter Balázs, Jan Philipp Albrecht of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, human rights and narrative strategy expert Stefánia Kapronczay and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. - A panel on cities will look at how urban areas can respond to linked political, social and economic crises. - Speakers include Mar Jiménez, Barcelona’s commissioner for European affairs, Kata Tüttő, president of the European Committee of the Regions, and Thomas O. Melia, senior fellow at Georgetown University and former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state. - Edit Inotai, senior fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, will moderate. - The conference will also mark the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution with a special Hungarian-language block. - That section will explore how current political conflicts shape historical memory and what 1956 says about today’s Hungarian democracy and social division. - The closing discussion on that theme will feature Andrea Szabó of the ELTE Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont, István Hegedűs of the Magyar Európa Társaság and Péter Csunderlik of ELTE. - Benedek Jávor, head of Budapest’s Brussels representation, will moderate the discussion. - The conference is positioned as a Europe-wide and global examination of democratic change after a period of democratic decline. - Organizers are using Hungary as a starting point to test what democratic renewal can look like after illiberal governments lose elections.

Between the lines: - The conference agenda suggests a broader effort to link Hungary’s political trajectory with debates on liberal democracy across Europe and beyond. - By pairing forward-looking sessions on elections, security and resilience with a memory-focused 1956 track, the event ties current democratic questions to historical identity politics. - The lineup signals strong international interest in how post-illiberal transitions work in practice, not just in theory.

What's next: - The conference will take place on Oct. 1 at CEU’s Nádor utca building in Budapest. - Media registration and interview requests will continue ahead of the event. - The discussions are expected to produce cross-border takeaways on democratic recovery, European cohesion and resilience in polarized societies. - The Hungarian-language sessions on 1956 will add a domestic political lens to the broader international program.

The bottom line: - Budapest Forum 2026 is positioning Hungary as a test case for how democracies recover after illiberal rule, while broadening the conversation to Europe’s political future, global security and the politics of historical memory.