Registration

Opening of Conference

Tamás Boros*, Executive Director, Equilibrium Institute, Budapest
Petr Luňák*, Deputy Section Head, Engagements, NATO PDD, Brussels
Réka Szemerkényi*, Director of International Affairs, Equilibrium Institute; Former Ambassador of Hungary to the USA, Budapest

Keynote: One Year After - From the Decisions of the Washington Summit to the Expectations for the Hague Summit

One year after the Washington Summit’s decisions, what has NATO accomplished and what remains to be done? What does the enlargement with two new members mean for the security of the Alliance and what is the enlargement-impact for Finland and Sweden’s security? What to look for at the upcoming Hague Summit: renewing Alliance cohesion or growing friction, increase from 2% to 5%, strengthening or weakening of the support for Ukraine, what new arrangement with Ukraine would help ending the war anc bring security for all of Europe, what is the real impact of the new US administration’s rhetorics on European member states, and what is the way forward for NATO’s Partners?

KEYNOTE:
Boris Ruge*, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, NATO, Brussels
Zsolt Németh*, Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, Hungarian National Assembly, Budapest
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Minister of Defence, Hungary, Budapest

Opening Keynote Panel: Five Months After - The Strategic Priorities of the New US Administration and its Impacts for Europe and the Rest of the World

White House statements and messages unimaginable since World War Two have already led to momentous changes in strategic thinking in all members of the international system. Do they lead to fulfilling long awaited promise or will they result in peril for the new US administration in strategic challenges such as ending the war in Ukraine and managing China’s global impact? To containing, appeasing, or to giving in to Russia? To America’s power positions? Will transatlantic ties have a chance to strengthen allies or are they fraying under Washington’s shifting priorities? How will rivals and allies respond to Washington’s evolving playbook?

Speakers:
James J. Carafano*, Senior Counselor to the President and E.W. Richardson Fellow, Heritage Foundation, Washington DC
Jörn Fleck*, Senior Director, Europe Center, Atlantic Council, Washington D.C.
Benedikt Franke, Vice-Chairman and CEO, Munich Security Conference, Munich
Zbigniew Pisarski, Founder and President, Casimir Pulaski Foundation, Warsaw

Moderator: Adam LeBor*, Deputy Director of Research, Danube Institute, Budapest

Coffee Break

PANEL 1: Strategic Europe - Evolving Strategic Thinking and Developing Defence Capabilities - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Organised Together with the WMCES

Europe on the rise - or on the brink? How will has the kinetic conflict against Ukraine’s sovereignity reshaped European security policies and NATO’s strategic posture? With the Russian pressure not diminishing for Europe and internal fault lines persevering, Is Europe falling apart, or is a new, strategic Europe under formation? European defense identity and/or European Defense Capability - what are the challenges, consequences, and what are the chances, of having one, and of not having one? Enhancing Europe’s defence capabilities: cooperation with the US or go-it-alone?

KEYNOTE:
Commissioner Andrius Kubilius*, Defence and Space, European Commission, Brussels - VIDEO MESSAGE
Pasquale Ferrara, Director General for Political Affairs and Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Rome
Péter Sztáray*, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Budapest

Speakers:
Representative of Kaja Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Brussels
Matthew G. Boyse*, Senior Fellow, Center on Europe and Eurasia, Hudson Institute, Washington D.C.
Tomi Huhtanen*, Executive Director, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, Brussels
Nico Lange*, Senior Fellow, Zeitenwende-Initiative, Munich Security Conference
Žygimantas Pavilionis*, Member of the Seimas, Chair of Transatlantic and Democracy Subcommittee, Parliament, Vilnius

Moderator: Nick Thorpe, East and Central Europe Correspondent at BBC News, Budapest

Video message

Laurence Tubiana*, Chief Executive Officer, European Climate Foundation, Paris

PANEL 2: Strategic Energy - From Politics to the Market, or From Market to Politics? Challenges and Game-changer Innovations

In the midst of the new geopolitical realities, how can governments and industries strike a balance between energy security, market-driven competition, and greeen transition priorities? What breakthrough innovations have the potential to redefine global energy security and sustainability in the coming decade? Is increasing energy efficiency becoming a key to long-term energy supply security, or will supply diversification keep precedence? How can new approaches to transatlantic business cooperation foster energy security and market efficiency while mitigating political, economic and strategic disruptions?

KEYNOTE:
Attila Steiner, State Secretary for Energy and Climate Policy, Ministry of Energy, Budapest
Arnoldas Pikžirnis*, Vice Minister for Energy, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuania

Speakers:
Robbie Diamond*, Founder, President and CEO, SAFE, Washington DC
Paul Domjan, Founder and Chief Policy and Global Affairs Officer, Enoda, London
Diana Fruchgott-Roth*, Director, Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment and The Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy, Heritage Foundation, Washington DC
Tibor Stelbaczky*, Ambassador-at-large, Principal Adviser on Energy Diplomacy, European External Action Service, Brussels
László Varró, VP, Global Business Environment, Shell, Amsterdam

Lunch

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: President Lech Walesa*, Former President of Poland

PANEL 3: Strategic AI and Cybersecurity - From the Explosive Growth of Generative AI through Risks and Limitations?

AI is opening immense potential to businesses that noone should levae out on, but how to ensure best use of this new potential? What role for business, governments and international frameworks for secure and efficient use of AI? How has cybersecurity, a remaining constant threat to all organizations, individuals and governments, been impacted by AI? Can AI be set aside without losing great development opportunitiies of private and public interests? Can advanced technologies and integrated security platforms be made secure in the midst of growing geopolitical tensions and disruptive cyberattacks or is it a constant uphill battle?

KEYNOTE:
Szabolcs Szolnoki*, Deputy Secretary of State for Technology, Ministry of National Economy, Budapest
Marta Poslad*, Director, CEE & Transatlantic Public Policy, Google; Chairwoman of American Chamber of Commerce in Poland, Warsaw

Speakers:
David Krasner*, CEO, MCK Group IT, New Orleans
Vilma Misiukonienė*, Board Member, Consultant on EU Affairs and Digital Policy, KSE, Vilnius

Moderator: Balázs Nagy*, CEO, NewPush, Google Digital Transformation Leader, Washington DC

PANEL 4: Strategic Balkans - From Bad to Worse?

Several countries of the Balkans have experienced massive new internal pressures with implications forthe stability and security of the entire region. What regional consequences to expect from these domestic developments? How should Europe react to these new dynamics in the security landscape in the Western Balkans? What implications for Transatlantic security? What can contribute to the stability of the region amidst the competing pressures, priorities and impacts of Russia, China, and the EU?

Speakers:
Odeta Barbullushi*, Resident Professor, College of Europe, Tirana
Rumena Filipova*, Chairperson, Institute for Global Analytics, Sofia
Paul McCarthy, Europe Regional Director, International Republican Institute, Washington DC
Dora Meredith*, Director, ODI Europe, Brussels

Parallel Workshops

#1 Strategic Space - The Geopolitics of Space: Cooperation, Competition, Confrontation - The New Space Race?

What is the role of Science and Space in the midst of the new geopolitical developments of the 21st century: are they domains of the global competition, becoming tools or global confrontation? or can they be used as previously, as counterbalancing these and mainitaining it as a domain of global cooperation? What legal and ethical challenges arise from space resource extraction and commercialization? How does the growing role of the private sector impact global space dynamics? What role if any, for Central-Eastern Europe in “the game of the big ones”?

Speakers:
Beata Daszynska-Muzyczka*, Presidential Ambassador and Special Envoy for Three Seas Initiative; Chancellery of the President Duda, Warsaw
Orsolya Ferencz*, Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hungary, Budapest
Ellen Stofan, Under Secretary for Science and Research, Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

#2 Climate Change and Its Security Implications

From pressures for migration through increasing domestic instability to resource extraction and commercialization, what security implications to expect from the effects of climate change and how to manage them, how to react to them? What responsibilities for national governments, what role for European regulation, what tasks to international organizations do they necessitate to mitigate the unfolding security challenges?

Speakers:
Adam Sikorski*, Co-founder, UNIMOT Capital Group, Zawadzkie
Tibor Stelbaczky, Ambassador-at-large, Principal Adviser on Energy Diplomacy, European External Action Service, Brussels
Representative of European Climate Foundation

Moderator: Dóra Csernus*, Director of Climate, Energy and Environment, Equilibrium Institute, Budapest

#3 Defence Industry: Musts and Must Nots

With Russia’s war against Ukraine and the new American administration’s evolving priorities, developing military caoabilities has gained an iunprecedented priority for European security. What defense industry decisions needs to follow suit from these external and internal pressures? Can transatlantic defence industry cooperation be strengthened in the face of internal tensions and declining trust and in the midst of emerging security threats, or are these leading towards a growing gap between the two sides of the Atlantic in this sphere too? What are the preconditions for developing European defense industry to make Europe capable to defend itself? National priorities and defense capabilities, and/or European security - what way ahead for Europe’s defence industry?

Speakers:
Ann M. Dailey, Geopolitical Strategist, RAND Corporation, Washington DC
Peter Flory*, Senior Fellow, European Initiative for Energy Security (EIES), Former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Washington DC, Brussels
Aleksander Olech*, Head of International Cooperation Defence 24, Warsaw
Representative of European External Action Service

Moderator: Tom McDevitt, Chairman, The Washington Times, Washington DC

#4 From TTIP to a Euro-Atlantic War of Tariffs? Trans-atlantic Economic Cooperation, its Challengers and its Alternatives

Was TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a proposed agreement between the EU and the US, a lost and the last opportunity to strengthen transatlantic business and economic ties? Are introducing and increasing tariffs the new normal in TA business and economic ties and if so, what are the consequences for the EU’s as well as for the US’ economy? How will tariffs hurt the European and American economies? Will they rock TA trade relations and will they push European businesses to turn to China as an alternative to TA trade, hampered by tariffs now? Is China the winner of TA tariffs by gaining economic positions in the European economies?

Speakers:
Krzysztof Błędowski*, Visiting Adjunct Professor, University of Rseszow, Rzeszów
Charles Calomiris, Heritage Foundation; Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia University, Washington DC
Bryan W. Roberts*, Senior Economist, Devtech Systems, Washington DC
Howard J. Shatz*, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation, Washington DC

Moderator: Claire Jones, International Economy News Editor, Financial Times, London

#5 Russia and Europe, Russia and the World: New Relationships After the War in Ukraine?

Russia’s war against Ukraine has already resulted a new, strategic reading of the EU’s relations with Russia and new internal European dynamics. With the US weighing in for ending the war and Europe reprioritizing its strategic intrerests also for developing defence capabilities, what to expect in the EU-Russia relationship once the weapons get silenced? What options are open and with what consequences for achieving security for European states? What kind of a peace agreement should Europe support, and how can the most threatened Eastern flank countries contribute to security and stability? Or is it simply going to be back to business as usual?

Speakers:
Giorgio Cella Ph.D.*, Foreign Policy Analyst, Med-Or Foundation, Author of "Storia e geopolitica della crisi ucraina. Dalla Rus' di Kiev a oggi", Rome
Konstantin Eggert*, MBE, Columnist and Programme Host, Deutsche Welle, Vilnius
Christina Catherine Krause*, Head of Department, International Politics and Security Affairs, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Berlin
Vladimir Socor*, Senior Analyst of East European Affairs, Jamestown Foundation, Washington DC
Mark Voyger*, Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis; Director of the Master of Science Program in Global Management, Kyiv

Moderator: Adam LeBor*, Author, Editorial, Financial Times, Economist Education, London

Coffee Break

PANEL 5: Strategic Indo-Pacific - The Return of Geopolitics?

Developments in the Indo-Pacific region of the world have never been more directly connected to Europe and transatlantic security than since Russia’s attack against Ukraine. What are the strategic consequences of the strengthening ties between Russia and China, what are the implications for the security of Taiwan and for NATO’s Partners in the Indo-Pacific? How has the new US administration’s statements been read by strategists in the Indo-Pacific? What role for Europeans? A European and/or an American Indo-Pacific-strategy or competing strategies?

Speakers:
Zoltán Fehér*, Nonresident Felllow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council, Washington DC
Anthony Kim, Senior Policy Analyst, The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC
Velina Tchakarova*, Founder, Geopolitical Strategist, FACE For A Conscious Experience, Vienna
Michael Wesley*, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Global Culture & Engagement, University of Melbourne, Melbourne

Moderator: Tom McDevitt, Chairman, The Washington Times, Washington DC

PANEL 6: Strategic Ukraine - How To End This War. Ukraine and the Future Transatlantic and European Security

Three years of ongoing war against Ukraine has brought many and often competing strategic readings of what Ukraine has achieved and what Russia has and intends to achieve. There are competing concepts of ending the war, and all have different consequences for Ukraine and as well as European and global security. What to support, how to promote sustainable peace, what frameworks to use? What security guarantees for Ukraine? What to expect regarding Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration and what consequences of these? How should reconstruction efforts be coordinated to ensure Ukraine’s economic and military resilience? What lessons has the international community learned from the ongoing war, and how do they shape future deterrence strategies?

KEYNOTE:
Tamas Vargha*, Deputy Minister, State Secretary for Parliamentary Relations, Ministry of Defence, Budapest
Dr. Matthew Sussex*, Visiting Fellow, ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Center, Canberra
Ambassador Kurt Volker*, Distinguished Fellow at Center for European Policy Analysis, Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Former Permanent Representative of the US on the North Atlantic Council, Washington DC
Representative of Ukraine Speaker

Speakers:
Jonathan Eyal*, Associate Director, Royal United Services Institute, London
Carrie Filipetti*, Executive Director, Vandenberg Coalition, Washington DC
Michael Sawkiw, Director, Ukrainian National Information Service, Washington DC

Moderator: Mark Voyger*, Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis; Director of the Master of Science Program in Global Management, American University, Kyiv

Closing Keynote Panel: Strategic Central Europe: Becoming a New Player, Divided to Muddle Through, or Back to the Russian Sphere of Interest. A Region to Redefine Itself

How can Central Europe’s countries navigate the evolving security landscape and the growing geopolitical tensions in the Euro-Atlantic space? What strategic partnerships should Central Europe prioritize to reinforce transatlantic security and economic resilience? Can Central Europe grow into a key partner of the US foreign policy, or will it fall victim of the American focus on the Indo-Pacific? What role can Central European countries play in enhancing European security? Should and can Central Europe be considered as a region of common interets and strategies, or are countries following different strategies and what will be the impact of competing national priorities for regional security?

Speakers:
Amb. Daniel Fried*, Former US Ambassador to Poland, Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council, Washington DC
Michal Kurtyka*, Former Minister, Pulaski Foundation, Warsaw
Krisztián Mészáros*, Director for Partnerships, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, NATO, Brussels
Márton Ugrósdy*, Deputy State Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office, Budapest

Moderator: Ia Meurmeshvili*, Chief International Correspondent, Foreign Policy, Washington DC

Closing Remarks

Tamás Boros*, Executive Director, Equilibrium Institute, Budapest
Petr Lunak*, Deputy Section Head, Engagements, NATO PDD, Brussels
Réka Szemerkényi*, Director of International Affairs, Equilibrium Institute; Former Ambassador of Hungary to the USA, Budapest

Networking

Arrival and registration

First Session

#1 Women Leaders’ Breakfast
- In Cooperation with HBLF, The Hungarian Business Leaders Forum

#2 The Future of NATO
- In Cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

#3 Food Supply and Security
- In Cooperation with the European Climate Foundation