PM Kobakhidze to Speak at CPAC Ultra-Conservative Meeting in Hungary
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze will attend and speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of ultra-conservative politicians, in Budapest on April 25. “Wokebusters: Let’s Drain the Swamp!” is the motto of the third annual CPAC in Budapest. According to the conference agenda, the discussions will evolve in panels titled “Sovereignty Lives, Globalism Dies,” “Save the West, Protect the Borders,” and “We Win, They Lose – 2024, an Election Superyear.”
As last year, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, will deliver the keynote address. Among other speakers are the former Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, the former Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, the President of the far-right Spanish party Vox, Santiago Abascal, and the President of the right-wing Dutch Party For Freedom, Geert Wilders.
The first CPA Conference was held in Budapest in 2022 and focused on the values of “God, Country and Family”. Notably, the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili, was one of the speakers at the second CPAC conference held in 2023 in Budapest with the theme “United We Stand” and the slogan “Liberals’ Nightmare: the International Convergence of National Forces.”
In his speech last year, Garibashvili praised Hungary’s defense of its national interests and fundamental values, calling Orbán “truly an exemplary politician (ruler), fighter and a striving Christian man.” He slammed those who propagate “false freedoms” aimed at the destruction of traditional values. The ex-Prime Minister warned of forces that seek to undermine traditional values and control people by “coercing false freedoms” and “promoting “LGBTQ+ propaganda.” He stated that “our main weapon and foundation is traditional, Christian, conservative, family values” and pledged to protect the rights of the majority, who believe in the definition of marriage as “the union between a man and a woman.”
After Garibashvili’s participation in CPAC was announced, the Party of European Socialists (PES) criticized Garibashvili. It announced that it would evaluate the status of cooperation with ტჰე Georgian Dream at the next meeting in June 2023. Preempting the PES decision, then Chairman of the GD party, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced GD’s decision to “leave the status of observer member of the “Party of European Socialists” and other associations related to… [them]”. In June, the PES indeed officially expelled the Georgian Dream Party from its membership.
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