European Contexts Series
When: Monday, 29 June 2026, 09:30–10:30 CEST
Where: Online, via Zoom Registration is mandatory.
Registration deadline: Sunday, 28 June 2026, 18:00 CEST
Please register HERE.
Background
On 13 June 2026, Roberto Vannacci held the constituent assembly of a new political party: Futuro Nazionale (National Future). The former general, whose views stand to the right of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and who has at times been considered neo-fascist, had already stirred Italian public opinion with the ideas expressed in his 2023 book The World Upside Down (Il Mondo al Contrario). Some of Vannacci’s political proposals are unconstitutional, yet they are not far removed from those of the Polish far-right party Konfederacja.
Why is there a demand for parties with ever more extreme agendas? Do “traditional” far-right parties moderate their positions once in power, or do voters increasingly identify with more radical views regarding women, Jews, Israel, Russia, migrants, people with disabilities, and other groups?
Are these parties isolated, or have they formed international networks of like-minded organisations that extend far beyond Europe? How influential are US political thinkers and influencers in the spread of these extreme ideas?
Forti and Zbytniewska will explore these questions from different angles and geographical contexts.
Speakers
Steven Forti is an Italian historian and author. He teaches Contemporary History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research focuses on fascism, populism, nationalism, and the far right in the contemporary era.
Forti is the author of Democracias en Extinción. El espectro de las autocracias electorales (Akal, 2024) and Extrema derecha 2.0. Qué es y cómo combatirla (Siglo XXI, 2021; new edition 2025), as well as the co-author of Patriotas indignados (Alianza, 2019) and editor of Mitos y cuentos de la extrema derecha (La Catarata, 2023). He is based in Barcelona.
Karolina Zbytniewska is Editor-in-Chief of FocusEurope.pl, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Warsaw, and a Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute, specialising in populism and political communication. She is based in Warsaw.
Nina Horaczek is a political scientist, author and chief reporter for the Austrian weekly newspaper FALTER. She has been researching the rise of right-wing extremism in Austria and Europe for many years, with a particular focus on the Freedom Party.
Moderator
Mirjana Tomic, fjum / Presseclub Concordia
Format
Moderated conversation followed by a live Q&A.
Target Audience
Journalists, media professionals, and researchers.
Maximum number of participants: 100