In the last one and a half decade, under the autocratic rule of Viktor Orbán, Hungary has abandoned the foundations of European pluralistic democracy such as constitutionalism, rule of law and the principle of self-governing free citizens. It resulted in countless EU infringement procedures but to no avail.

On the contrary, Orbán stated that he is happy to be the thorn in the side of Europe, and now is recruiting allies to solidify his stance and influence in the EU. Some of the recent developments in Hungary, as well as his foreign policy choices, have greatly undermined the Western social system, rule of law, and universal Christian values of solidarity in general.

The European Union as a whole - and Central Europe especially - is at crossroads: the choice between Western pluralistic democracy and Eastern autocratic imperialism has never been more dramatic than now, before the upcoming European Union elections. Every conscious European citizen must understand what is at stake and make a responsible choice. We believe that Christian values are at the foundation of the EU project and have led to this continent being regarded as the cradle of humanism and democracy. Pluralistic democracy has been proven time and again to be the best social system to protect human freedom and dignity. These are the values which are under attack by imperialistic powers from the outside and illiberal populists from the inside of the European Union. The purpose of this meeting is to shed light on the choices in front of us.