IN THE END, it was a quiet enough affair at the right-wing National Conservatism Conference in Brussels today.
After a flurry of excitement over being banned yesterday, attendees gained entry without difficulty but were told by keynote speakers such as Hungarian Prime Minister Orban that Europe was “in danger”.
The conference, which would have largely gone unnoticed if Belgian police hadn’t attempted to shut it down yesterday, also had British politicians Suella Braverman and Nigel Farage as part of its line-up.
However after proceedings got under way yesterday, Belgian police officers burst in and barricaded the entrance, allowing attendees to leave the building, but not re-enter. Local mayor, Emir Kir, had called for the event to be shut down citing a threat to “public security” as anti-fascist protesters had vowed to target it. He also reportedly said that the right-wing conference was “not welcome”.
His heavy-handed order drew broad condemnation with Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo slamming it as “unacceptable” and British counterpart Rishi Sunak calling it “extremely disturbing”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the “hateful oppression of freedom of expression”.
The attendees at the event included self-proclaimed far-right figures, as well as other elected officials from across Europe.
Belgium’s top administrative court sided with organisers in a hearing early today. Judges overturned the ban saying it violated the country’s constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
When The Journal attended, there was ease of access with just a handful of police stationed across the road.
However, this was not the venue listed on the conference’s website. There were last minute changes with organisers left scrambling for a venue since Friday, after its first two choices refused, fearing disruption. (This reporter was then left scrambling for details of the new venue following the court’s decision.)
Speaking to The Journal, a number of attendees denounced the attempt to shut down the conference as an assault on free speech, something which was echoed by Orban when he thundered onto the stage this morning.
Orban was en route to the EU Council meeting where he is meeting his European counterparts, including Taoiseach Simon Harris.
So what was on the agenda at the National Conservatism Conference?
Topics up for discussion on day two included “Threats to Faith and Family” and “Challenging Wokeism: An International Matter”, with speakers sharing visions of a Christian Europe supposedly under threat from immigration, Islam and the LGBTQ community.
Other matters up for discussion over the two days included:
Earlier this year, a review of polling predicted that anti-European political parties will top the polls in at least nine EU member states in the upcoming European elections in June.
The data from the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank states this is largely down to an expected “surge” in support for far-right or right-leaning political parties aligned with Eurosceptic parliamentary groups across the continent.
Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia are all expected to see populist, anti-European candidates win seats in the European Parliament.
The right-wing narratives were evident at the conference today.
These included anti-immigration sentiments, mentions of wokism, claims about the “islamisation of the continent” and challenges reproductive rights, as well as concerns about the decline of the “traditional family”.
Before veering into rhetoric about the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, France’s former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour spoke about Islam being a religion which “intends to govern all aspects of life” that seeks to “change our daily lives”.
According to this ethno-nationalist conspiracy, the white American and European populations are being systematically ‘replaced’ by non-whites through policies developed by global liberal elites.
Find out more about the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory in our new FactCheck Knowledge Bank:
Hans-Georg Maaßen, who served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic security agency, spoke about asylum seekers and how politicians in Europe were failing to tackle the issue of migration.
He said the right to asylum does not grant the right to “move to the most beautiful country in the world from the other side of the world and settle permanently in Europe”.
He suggested that asylum seekers were coming to Europe not for humanitarian reasons but rather because of an ideological project of an unnamed, left-wing extremist political sect which wants to destabilise and destroy European societies through mass immigration.
It was another version of the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, which has its roots in the ethnic nationalism seen in France through the 20th century.
The attendees in the crowd chatted about such topics over a lunch of hand-held salmon and prawn bowls.
Chatter about the annoyance of trying to define the “right” and the “far-right” was common, but The Journal also witnessed conversations about the need for a far-right sweep across the European Parliament.
Attendees from the United States also mentioned how it was good to see a conservative movement taking hold in Europe.
A wide-ranging array of booklets and leaflets were on offer at various stands, including literature on the ‘Reshuffling of the World Order as seen from Hungary’; ‘The Populist Revolt: Europe’s Had Enough’; and ‘The Silent War on Farming: How EU policies are destroying our agriculture’.
One young man, Ward Van Meensel, who described himself as being someone from the far-right, told The Journal why he attended today.
“We’re here because we are members of a student fraternity, young Flemish nationalists, NSV, the National Student Association. We are Flemish nationalists. We are radical in that sense,” he said. “We are national revolutionaries, we call ourselves so. We come here to exchange ideas with people who are sometimes like minded, sometimes not.”
He said he advocates for a “strong, right-wing Flemish state” and the case for re-migration of illegal migrants.
When asked what the difference is between the political right and the far-right, from his perspective, Van Meensel said:
“I think that normal, right-wing people – which are a lot of people here today are – quickly call themselves conservatives, and in our view, what do conservatives still have to conserve? Like everything they tried to conserve 50 years ago, has changed.
“We are very steadfast or radical in what we believe. We don’t compromise, we don’t lessen our viewpoints on things, we believe what we believe.
“Are we in a minority now? At this moment, with no one that speaks out, yes. But will that change after the elections here 9 June?” he said.
He added that the far-right party Vlaams Belang – which wants an independent Flanders – is currently polling at 25%.
“That’s ideal,” he said, stating that the centre-right party is going to have to choose between governing with the far-right, the left, or a massive coalition. This will make for a “very unstable coalition”, he said.
“I hope for a far-right victory sweep not only over Flanders, not only over Europe, but over the world,” he said.
With reporting from © Agence France-Presse
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say