I attended and spoke at the recent CPAC conference in Orlando (Feb. 25-27).  Chris Queen of PJ Media attended and covered my panel.  Titled, “Are European Conservatives Poised to Effect Real Change?” his write up follows:

Here at Day Three of CPAC 2022, I started my day at a workshop entitled “More Brexits?” James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation led a panel that included Rob Roos, member of the European Parliament representing the Netherlands, Miklós Szánthó, director of the Center for Fundamental Rights in Hungary, and my PJ Media colleague Raymond Ibrahim.

The panel had a fascinating discussion on the state of the culture in Europe and how the European Union is attempting to bend the continent toward socialism and ruin.

Roos gave the largely American audience a quick primer on how the European Union and its parliament works. The EU has 27 member nations, each with its own culture and set of priorities. The government of the EU is a three-layer system made up of a council, commission, and parliament. The commission is a body of unelected bureaucrats who are extremely progressive and unaccountable, yet they make 60-80% of the decisions for the EU, in Roos’ estimation.

Roos said that the progressives at the EU are greedy and never satisfied, and they want nothing short of a United States of Europe. A sub-group within the EU parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, is working hard to stop or at least slow the progressive takeover of the entire continent.

In Roos’ view, the goal of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party is “not necessarily leave but to reform” the EU. He noted that European climate policies in particular have done much to bring about socialism and destroy small businesses.

Szánthó spoke about cultural issues relating to the EU. Hungary’s constitution defines marriage as only being between one man and one woman; however, that’s not good enough for the EU, which insists on its member nations fully accepting the LGBT worldview. He also talked about how nations like Hungary and Poland receive criticism from the EU because they’re less interested in the EU’s concept of an “ever closer union” that negates the sovereignty of member nations.

Ibrahim weighed in on how Muslim migration throughout Europe has changed the face of the continent — all under the EU’s watchful eye. He gave a history lesson on how Muslim aggression through Europe in prior centuries, and even the first war the U.S. engaged in against the Barbary pirates, has solidified the concept of jihad. Even Muslims who don’t subscribe to radical strains of the religion know that conquest is embedded in the doctrines of Islam.

“Don’t believe it when they tell you radical Islam is an aberration,” he said.

Many Muslim migrants to Europe don’t assimilate into the culture of their new home countries, and they are set to “outbreed” non-Muslims in Europe. Estimates are that by 2050, Europe will be majority Muslim; even now, the most popular name for baby boys in Europe is Mohammed. The Muslim takeover of Europe by birthrate is subtle, but it’s subverting the identity of Europe, according to Ibrahim.

“Muslims say it’s a great thing but it’s a suicidal thing,” he said.

Other experts who weren’t part of the panel were also invited to take the mic and speak up. Robert Tyler, Senior Policy Advisor for New Direction, talked about how many of the UK’s immigrants are conservative, and many of them voted for Brexit.

He recounted the story of an immigrant cab driver he encountered during the Brexit debates. Tyler told the driver that he was working on Brexit policy, but he was hesitant to say what side he was working on. He finally relented and told the driver that he was working on the “leave” side, to which the driver replied, “Good.”

Katharine Gorka, also of the Heritage Foundation, mentioned how the multiculturalist and socialistic goals of the European left are echoed on the American left. The hyperfocus on race and the heavy-handed LGBT lobby are all “tools of the same goal — to eradicate freedom and institute socialism,” she stated.

Carafano concluded the discussion with a challenge: he called the audience to have some of these discussions in their communities and to understand and learn from each other. He offered the resources of the Heritage Foundation and other groups to help everyday citizens have the conservations that can make a difference. It really will take all of us to stem the tide of the left.