Hungary trying to ban conference organized by US extremist group to be held in Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary – The Hungarian government says it will try to ban a conference organized by the U.S.-based National Policy Institute, a group it describes as extremist and racist.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday instructed Interior Minister Sandor Pinter to use "all legal means at his disposal" to prevent the meeting planned Oct. 3-5 from taking place in Budapest.

One of the scheduled speakers at the conference called "The Future of Europe" is Russia's Aleksandr Dugin, a prominent nationalist ideologue. The event is being promoted as "an exceptional opportunity ... for traditionalists and identitarians from around the world to build fellowship."

While an earlier version of the invitation to the conference highlighted the presence of the far-right Jobbik party, the second-largest opposition group in Hungary's parliament, they are no longer listed.