A spinoff of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a high-profile annual gathering for Republicans and right-wing politicians, will be held in Poland later this year.
CPAC is seen by many as the most important public event in the Republican calendar.
“We just announced CPAC in Poland later this year,” Matt Schlapp wrote on X after receiving an award from a right-wing Polish newspaper during a gala on Sunday.
“St. John Paul help guide our steps,” he added, referencing the Polish-born pope who died in 2005.
Held for the first time in 1974, when the soon-to-be president Ronald Reagan gave its inaugural speech, the conference has played a key role in launching political careers.We are proud to announce we are coming to POLAND 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/rteTe2MhXW
— CPAC (@CPAC) March 23, 2025
A speech given at the event by Donald Trump in 2011 is often credited as the beginning of the incumbent U.S. president’s rise within the Republican party.
This year’s edition of the conference, held in February, featured the most high-profile Republicans including Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and Elon Musk.
It also attracted right-wing politicians from around the globe such as Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, who briefly met with Trump during the event.
Since 2017, CPAC has expanded beyond its home turf, organizing events in Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and Hungary, which is the only European country to host the conference so far.
“Bringing the most important conservative event in the world to Poland… is incredibly important,” Tobiasz Bocheński, a politician from Poland’s right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, told hard-right news outlet Niezależna.
“Conservatives from Italy, Sweden and France will envy us,” he added.
Wojciech Kolarski, the head of Duda’s International Policy Office, praised CPAC’s decision as a “great honor” adding that “it can be an undertaking with enormous significance for the future of Polish politics.”
He said: “The CPAC conference is a major institution on the American political scene. Every Republican, conservative politician must make an appearance there to gain the votes that will be needed in their pursuit of office.”
The exact date of the conference has not been announced.
Poland will go to polls in May and June to elect a new president. Duda, an ally of PiS, has held the office for two terms and is not allowed to run again.
Karol Nawrocki, the conservative candidate backed by PiS, is polling in second place behind the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski from the Civic Coalition, which forms the backbone of Poland’s governing coalition.
