This week, the American Conservative Union (ACU), the US grassroots organisation behind the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), convened an inaugural gathering of far-right figures in Poland just outside of Rzeszów, an electoral heartland for the country’s Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The timing could not be any more tactical: squarely between the first and second rounds of Poland’s presidential election, in which PiS-backed historian Karol Nawrocki will seek to regain the presidency for the party.
Wrapped by a media-friendly backdrop and offering high-profile US and Polish speakers, such as US homeland secretary Kristi Noem, ACU chairman Matt Schlapp, outgoing president Andrzej Duda and former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, CPAC Poland could help Nawrocki reach voters who supported far right, eliminated first-round candidates Sławomir Mentzen (Confederation) and Grzegorz Braun (The Crown), and ultimately propel him to a second-round victory against his liberal opponent, Rafał Trzaskowski.
The roadshow has now headed to Budapest for the fourth edition of CPAC Hungary (29-30 May), marketed under the banner The Age of Patriots is Here! — highlighting that this is the first time the gathering takes place since the formation of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament and the re-election of US president Donald Trump.
Headlined by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán of Fidesz, the Budapest gathering has matured into a fully-fledged networking fair that connects US conservative and far-right figures with Europe’s sovereigntists — from Vox in Spain to the Freedom Party in Austria — and like-minded politicians and commentators from around the globe.
Unlike its sister conference in Rzeszów, tactical and election-focused, the event in Budapest has become a significant outpost of the ACU, and now plays a strategic, long-term role of showcasing an “illiberal success story” to a transatlantic audience.
At both conferences, there are shared, crossover narratives.
Speakers line up, one after the other, and bang the drum of national sovereignty, whilst taking shots at the EU and “Brussels institutions” for their overreaching bureaucracy.
Culture-war issues fuelling the far right’s agenda — such as the fight against 'gender ideology', 'wokeness', immigration, and for traditional, Christian values, the family and the nation — are also prevalent, and provide a unifying language that bridges policy differences among participants.
CPAC treats this ideological alignment — not institutional affiliation — as the basis for cooperation among like-minded actors across European party families — like the Patriots or the European Conservatives and Reformists — and beyond.
Beyond the slogans, there is also a concrete power gambit to the gatherings.
In the short term, if Poland elects a PiS-aligned president on Sunday (1 June), Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition-led coalition government will almost certainly fail its re-democratisation efforts.
Under a new president’s continued veto, the governing parties’ inability to deliver on their 2023 mandate may very well usher in PiS’ return to government.
A PiS-led Poland would join Hungary as a veto player in future attempts to strengthen the European institutions and a democratic EU.
The sovereigntist network would then turn to October’s Czech parliamentary elections, and Andrej Babis reclaiming office, before swinging behind Orbán in 2026, and the National Rally in the French presidential elections, which are already looming on the horizon.
The view of many commentators is that CPAC is still a fringe gathering of ultra-nationalists, which bears no risk to our political systems.
But the reality is this 'MAGA roadshow' is now a venue for unofficial party diplomacy and is turning into a soft power lever that builds lasting connections among political elites and the think tanks and organizations within their orbit.
The professionally produced, social-media-ready visuals and emotionally charged messages blend policy advocacy and entertainment, and help attending parties reach new voters. With Trump back in the White House, CPAC now has more momentum than ever to boost both ties and visibility — despite the president’s chaotic first few months and bellicose actions and rhetoric towards the EU.
Comparatively, the transatlantic mainstream has no answer of equal spectacle and scale. Democratic, centrist actors rely on high-level fora, such as the Munich Security Conference and various other think tank conferences, for exchanges that do not resonate with broader electorates. Unless democratic forces craft a similarly engaging platform and supporting network, they will continue to fight in an asymmetric information battle.
To overcome this struggle, democratic players must tackle questions of infrastructure, narrative, and identity all at once. They must strengthen the cross-border infrastructure of democratically minded figures (not only politicians but also local reporters, fact-checkers, civic educators, entrepreneurs) and co-create a flagship stage to debate the future of a democratic transatlantic alliance.
They need to compete on culture, not just policy, and explore the roll-out of podcasts, short-form videos, and townhall roadshows to explain — in national languages — how a strong transatlantic alliance and more narrowly EU policies, like the single market, joint defence procurements, or climate standards and so on translate into security, jobs, and everyday convenience.
And, last, they need to take steps to reclaim patriotism by showing that effective sovereignty in a globalised world is won through multilateralism and establishing a common path in Europe and across the Atlantic — and not through veto-based obstruction, which will ultimately leave us all fragmented, and especially smaller nations, isolated.
The Polish and Hungarian editions of CPAC may look harmless and fringe, but ignoring them, and the growing list of grievances that many citizens now hold against our political systems, is certain to spell trouble down the line. The global right is coordinating on an unprecedented scale. This should concern anyone who cares about the values and liberty we know and enjoy.
This year, we turn 25 and are looking for 2,500 new supporting members to take their stake in EU democracy. A functioning EU relies on a well-informed public – you.
Zsuzsanna Végh is a programme officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and an associate researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Zsuzsanna Végh is a programme officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and an associate researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.