Year: 2025

Ferenc Németh is a Western Balkans expert and a PhD Candidate at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He was a Visiting International Graduate Student at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (University of Toronto) and conducted research at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Ferenc was a Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, a lecturer at Eötvös József College, and worked at EULEX Kosovo.

Ferenc holds a master’s degree in international relations from Corvinus University of Budapest and pursued post-graduate studies at the universities of Graz and Belgrade. His areas of expertise include the Western Balkans, EU enlargement, and security studies.

Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna. He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Board of Trustees of The International Crisis Group and member of the Board of Directors of GLOBSEC. He is a Financial Times contributing editor and the author of “Is it Tomorrow, Yet? How the Pandemic Changes Europe” (Allen Lane/Penguin, 2020); The Light that Failed: A Reckoning (Allen Lane/Penguin, 2019), co-authored with Stephen Holmes – won the 30th Annual Lionel Gelber Prize; “After Europe” (UPenn Press, 2017); “Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics on Protest” (UPenn Press, 2014) and “In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don’t Trust Our Leaders?” (TED Books, 2013).

Ambassador James O’Brien is a Diplomat and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

O’Brien served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs until January 2025. Since starting work at the State Department 10 days before the Berlin Wall fell, he has spent approximately half his career in the US government, serving at various times as adviser to the secretary of state, principal deputy of policy planning, ambassador for sanctions policy, and special presidential envoy for the Western Balkans and for hostage affairs. He helped found two private-sector firms that have advised or invested in more than 100 countries. During his fellowship at the IWM he will be exploring the options for transatlantic relations over the next decade.

Katalin Cseh is a Member of the European Parliament of Renew Europe.

She was elected as a Momentum Movement (part of the Renew Europe party group) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2019 parliamentary election.

Momentum Movement became a centrist political party in March 2017. In August 2017, she was appointed to the governing board of the party. Cseh was a candidate for the party in the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election. The party did not win any seats in parliament, and the governing board (including Cseh) resigned.

Katalin Cseh was born on 29 June 1988 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her early education was at Toldy Ferenc High School in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated from Semmelweis University specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology. In 2015, she obtained a master’s degree in Health Economics, Policy, and Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the same year, Cseh co-founded Momentum Movement group with nine others. The group campaigned against the Hungarian government’s decision to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. They petitioned for a referendum on the issue and garnered more than 266,000 signatures. This resulted in the government withdrawing their bid.

Momentum Movement became a centrist political party in March 2017. In August 2017, she was appointed to the governing board of the party. Cseh was a candidate for the party in the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election. The party did not win any seats in parliament, and the governing board (including Cseh) resigned.

Cseh stood as a candidate for Momentum Movement in the 2019 European parliamentary election. She was first on her party’s list, and was elected as one of its two MEPs (the other being Anna Júlia Donáth) in Hungary. In the European Parliament, she is one of the eight vice-chairs of the Renew Europe political group. Cseh is a member of the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy and is part of the delegation for relations with the United States.

Krisztián Orbán is a public intellectual, economist. He earned his degrees at Corvinus University of Budapest, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the founder and managing partner of the Oriens Group. For nearly two decades, he has been publishing essays on public affairs. His recurring themes include the country’s long-term development and decline.

Lili Takács is a journalist at 444.hu where she specializes in broader defense and security related issues. She holds a doctorate in Military Sciences.