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Type | Quarterly journal |
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Format | Print, Digital |
Owner(s) | European Conservative Nonprofit Ltd. |
Founder(s) | Center for European Renewal |
Publisher | European Conservative Nonprofit Ltd. |
Editor-in-chief | Alvino-Mario Fantini |
Managing editor | Ellen Kryger Fantini |
Founded | 2008 |
Political alignment | Pan-European conservatism |
Language | English |
Headquarters | Budapest, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Brussels |
City | Budapest |
Country | Hungary |
Circulation | 5,000 (print); 120,000 (digital) |
ISSN | 2590-2008 |
Website | europeanconservative |
The European Conservative is a pan-European conservative English-language publication registered in Budapest, Hungary, with an editorial office in Vienna, Austria, and news offices in Brussels, Belgium and Rome, Italy. It focuses on philosophy, politics, culture, and the arts. It publishes articles, essays, interviews, and reviews about different kinds of conservative, traditionalist, reactionary, and right-wing thought in Europe and across the world. [1]
The European Conservative is published both as a quarterly print journal and as a website. Not all the content from the print edition is available online. In late 2021, the website started publishing daily news stories and news analysis. In early 2023, it also started publishing a weekly e-newsletter from its Brussels office.
The European Conservative originally began in 2008 as an informal, four-page newsletter written and edited by a group of volunteers associated with the Center for European Renewal (CER), a pan-European conservative organization originally based in The Hague, now in Amsterdam.
The CER was formally founded in 2007, after a first exploratory meeting in 2006 held at Kasteel De Vanenburg in Putten, which brought together conservative scholars and writers from across Europe and the United States as well. The CER now organizes an annual Vanenburg Meeting, named after the location of that first 2006 meeting. [2]
Among the founders of the CER are the German publisher and writer Caspar Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing (1927–2009), the Polish historian and philosopher Miłowit Kuniński (1946–2018), and the British political philosopher Roger Scruton (1944–2020). Other key figures involved with the CER are Dutch ethicist and political philosopher Andreas Kinneging of Leiden University, political scientist András Lánczi, the former rector of Corvinus University in Budapest, and R. R. Reno, editor of First Things magazine. [3]
Five editions of The European Conservative were published intermittently over a two-year period by a group of volunteers associated with the CER and the Vanenburg Meeting, before production was paused at the end of 2010.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, former speechwriter, financial journalist, and editor (and co-founder of the CER) Alvino-Mario Fantini volunteered to take over as editor, working with a group of remote volunteers. The publication was re-designed, and new content and features were added (e.g., a cover image, book reviews, ads). The page count was also increased. Distribution of the publication continued in limited print runs but also as a free .pdf distributed by email and available online. [4] But since 2019, The European Conservative has been an independent quarterly published by the European Conservative Nonprofit Ltd., in collaboration with the research organization CEDI/EDIC in Vienna, the Italian think-tank Nazione Futura in Rome, and the Bibliothek des Konservatismus in Berlin.
The publication's current Editor-in-Chief is Alvino-Mario Fantini, who has also previously written for The American Spectator, Crisis, The New Criterion, Far Eastern Economic Review, Catholic World Report, The American Conservative, and The Wall Street Journal Europe. He is also a frequent public speaker, and has appeared at various events organized by ADF International, Austrian Economics Center, [5] [6] New Direction, [7] [8] De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, CEFAS at CEU-San Pablo University, [9] the ID Group at the European Parliament, [10] and the National Conservatism conferences. [11] [12]
Over the years, The European Conservative has published material by people closely associated with the CER, as well as by other well-known authors, such as Anthony Daniels (Theodore Dalrymple), Remi Brague, Ryszard Legutko, Chantal Delsol, Mark Dooley, Todd Huizinga, Charles Coulombe, Alberto Fernandez, Roger Watson, among others. [13] In recent years, it has also published less-well-known authors and emerging scholars from around the world, particularly those working in languages other than English. [14] [15] [16]
The European Conservative has organized and co-sponsored several events over the years. In June 2021, to mark the re-design and re-launch of the publication (with its Summer 2021 edition) it held a panel discussion with several scholars at one of the Scruton Cafes in Budapest, Hungary. [17] [18]
In September 2021, to mark the publication of its Fall 2021 edition, the publication organized a day-long series of panels at the Lónyay-Hatvany Villa in Budapest, with invited guests from the academic and political world. [19] [20] [21]
In March 2022, the publication was one of several official partners of the National Conservatism Conference held in Brussels. [22] The European Conservative has also participated in the 2022 Young Leaders Academy, organized by New Direction and the Center for the Renewal of Culture in Split, [23] with the Institut Iliade in Paris, [24] and the Bibliothek des Konservatismus in Berlin. [25] [26]
On September 30–October 2, 2022, five days after the snap elections in Italy, The European Conservative co-organized, with Nazione Futura and the Fondazione Tatarella, a two-day conference on "Italian Conservatism". This included both English-language and Italian-language panels, with panelists and keynote speakers discussing and debating different conservative ideas as well as various approaches to conservative governance and policies. The event was heavily covered by various Italian and European media. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
In April 2023, The European Conservative website was the first news outlet to report on suspicions against a parliamentary aide Jian Guo of right-wing MEP Maximilian Krah (AfD) for lobbying and possibly spying for communist-ruled China. [33] One year later, on 23 April 2024, the aide was arrested by Germany police on charges of espionage for China. The pioneering revelations in The European Conservative were acknowledged in international media like The New York Times , [34] The Times [35] (London), France24 , [36] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , [37] and Die Welt . [38] TEC’s editor-in-chief Alvino-Mario Fantini was quoted saying on his website's reporting "we were confirmed". [39]
The European Conservative publishes both established and well-known conservative scholars and writers, as well as lesser known, young, or undiscovered writers around the world.
A few of the many contributors to The European Conservative over the years have included:
In the summer of 2022, the publication's British stockist, WHSmith, removed all copies of The European Conservative from its shelves after complaints by two prominent customers—Alexi Kaye Campbell, a Greek-British playwright, and his civil partner Dominic Cooke, an English director and writer—over some of the publication's content.
Pointing to an interview with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Spring 2022 edition, as well as a one-line critical comment about pride marches and an editorial cartoon by Canadian artist Bob Moran, both in the Summer 2022 edition, Campbell and Cooke urged their friends and followers on Instagram and Twitter to pressure WHSmith into removing the magazine, which they called "fascist filth", from their shelves.
The magazine's alleged links to Viktor Orbán and Fidesz has been the subject of criticism by liberal outlets. [41] [42] [43] Conversely, the magazine has been praised by more conservative outlets for its writing and professional presentation. [44]
Outlets such as Tichys Einblick (Germany), National Catholic Register (U.S.), Gaceta de la Iberoesfera (Spain), Power Line (U.S.), and Junge Freiheit (Germany), among others, covered the incident. After a mild media storm, WHSmith decided to allow for the return of the publication starting with the Fall 2022 edition. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49]
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology, which seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in which it appears. In Western culture, depending on the particular nation, conservatives seek to promote a range of institutions, such as the nuclear family, organized religion, the military, the nation-state, property rights, rule of law, aristocracy, and monarchy. Conservatives tend to favour institutions and practices that enhance social order and historical continuity.
The European People's Party Group is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEPs and/or deputies from unaffiliated national parties. The EPP Group comprises politicians of Christian-democratic, conservative and liberal-conservative orientation.
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán.
The Democratic Coalition is a social-liberal and social-democratic political party in Hungary led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány. Founded in 2010 as a faction within the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the Democratic Coalition split from the MSZP on 22 October 2011 and became a separate party. It has fifteen MPs in the National Assembly and four MEPs in the European Parliament.
Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by liberalism.
Peter Liese is a German physician and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party.
Manfred Weber is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), part of the European People's Party.
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national, cultural identity, communitarianism, and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conservatism, while departing from economic liberalism and libertarianism, as well as taking a more agnostic approach to regulatory economics and protectionism. National conservatives usually combine conservatism with nationalist stances, emphasizing cultural conservatism, family values and opposition to illegal immigration or opposition to immigration per se. National conservative parties often have roots in environments with a rural, traditionalist or peripheral basis, contrasting with the more urban support base of liberal conservative parties.
John Komlos is an American economic historian of Hungarian descent and former holder of the chair of economic history at the University of Munich.
Green conservatism is a combination of conservatism with environmentalism. Environmental concern has been voiced by both conservative politicians and philosophers throughout the history of conservatism. One of the of most prominent early philosophers of conservatism, Edmund Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), quoted as saying: "The earth, the kind and equal mother of all ought not to be monopolised to foster the pride and luxury of any men."
Judith Sargentini is a former Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). She is a member of the GreenLeft party, which is part of The Greens–European Free Alliance, and the European Green Party. Previously, she was chair of the party's delegation in Amsterdam's city council.
The European Conservatives and Reformists Party, formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) (2009–2016) and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) (2016–2019), is a conservative, soft Eurosceptic European political party with a main focus on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism, as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism).
New Direction – The Foundation for European Reform is a political foundation at European level, think tank and publisher affiliated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR). It was established in 2010, under the patronage of Baroness Thatcher. It is based in Brussels with satellite offices in London and Warsaw. New Direction is a free-market think tank that promotes European reform through the strengthening of accountability, transparency and democracy.
Our Homeland Movement is a Hungarian far-right political party. It was founded by Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President, László Toroczkai, along with other Jobbik dissidents that left the organization after the party's leadership moved away from its radical beginnings.
Katalin Cseh is a Canadian-born Hungarian physician and politician. She was elected as a Momentum Movement Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2019 parliamentary election.
Irene Tinagli is an Italian Member of the European Parliament since 2019. She serves as chairperson of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
The 2024 European Parliament election is scheduled to be held on 6 to 9 June 2024. This will be the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit. This election will also coincide with a number of other elections in the European Union.
Maximilian Krah is a German lawyer and self-described right-wing politician. He is serving as a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany.
The Yes Solidarity for Hungary Movement is a democratic socialist political party in Hungary that was founded by Tibor Szanyi in 2020.
Francesco Giubilei is an Italian publisher, columnist, and conservative writer. From December 2022 to June 2023, he was a special advisor for the Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.