Last week, senior Czech politicians and academics participated in a two-day conference in Budapest, focused on the rise of populism and how to strengthen democracy in Europe.
The Budapest Forum took place at the former building of the Central European University, where talks on sustainability and the green transition in Europe were held against the backdrop of serious flooding in the city and wider region, with water from the nearby Danube spilling over local flood defences and submerging pavements and street signs.
Olga Richterova, deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and former vice-president of the Czech Pirate Party, was one of several high-ranking figures in attendance.
Speaking on a panel about the impact of malign foreign influence in European politics, Richterova discussed resistance in the Czech Republic to Russian interference in domestic politics. She suggested that the Soviet occupation of 1968 continues to hold a prominent position in Czech historical memory, and has helped to insulate the country from pro-Russian sentiments, unlike in other nearby states.
Richterova also referenced previous examples of Russian sabotage in the Czech Republic, such as the deadly Vrbetice warehouse explosions in 2014, which forced “even the previous government to take a stance against Russian influence”.
She argued that both factors have helped to cement widespread support in the country for supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia following the full-scale invasion in 2022, though she also acknowledged that politicians are reaching a “breaking point” in maintaining support for the war and their ability to explain to the public the “implications of opposing Russia on a global scale”.
The panel later discussed the causes behind growing support for authoritarian populist movements. Richterova, a member of the progressive Czech Pirate Party, struck a conservative note on the subject of immigration, suggesting that “academic” discussions on populism often failed to address the “elephant in the room” and ignored the concerns of those opposed to higher levels of immigration.
She said that “small crimes on the street” were not being sufficiently addressed and that “people are afraid of immigration and, in some places, rightly. We have to take into account (this) reality”.
According to Richterova, failure to do so would lead to greater support for populist parties in Europe, “unless we see problems perceived as such by the public as the issues (we need) to tackle, we will be unable to uphold any values, because strength and power will prevail”.
The conference was also attended by the US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, who delivered a highly critical speech on the state of Hungarian democracy under Prime Minister Victor Orbán.
The ambassador criticised the “atmosphere of fear” created by the government’s attacks on the media and civil society, as well as Orbán’s interference in US domestic politics and his “cosy” relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Pressman suggested that Hungary’s continuation down a path of ‘illiberal democracy’, as Orbán has described it, would necessarily lead to a “reckoning” amongst Hungary’s allies and partners. He said, “we (must) recognize that what we used to dismiss with an eye roll requires us to look at it directly, and respond to it unflinchingly”.
Other events at the forum included a short keynote address by the former Prime Minister of Slovakia, Mikuláš Dzurinda, on political leadership in the 21st century, as well an online address by the prominent journalist and historian Anne Applebaum.
Petra Guasti, Associate Professor at Charles University, took part in a panel on ‘illiberal challengers of liberal democracy in Europe’, also discussing the success of populist parties in Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
