You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it. My guest today is the

leading advocate on the international stage for a Hungarian government which revels in its reputation

as the problem child of the European Union.

Peter Sciato has been Hungary's foreign minister for the past four and a half years, a period which

has seen the country's nationalist populist prime minister, Victor Orban, conduct an increasingly

vitriolic campaign against the EU's approach to immigration,

and much else besides. For its part, the European Parliament voted last year to begin

disciplinary proceedings against Hungary for flouting EU values and standards in terms of

human rights, respect for free media, independent

courts and clean government. It is Mr. Orban's determination to keep migrants out of Hungary

that has done most to stoke controversy and tension. And with European elections to be held

later this spring, the Hungarian

Prime Minister is now talking of forging a potent pan-European anti-immigrant movement with

national forces in Poland, Austria, Italy, France, and a host of other EU member states. Could

Orban-style populism be about to become a dominant force in European

politics? Well, Peter Sciato joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you very much for the

invitation again. What's fascinating about being in Budapest right now is that in the last couple of

days, hundreds of huge posters

have gone up around this city depicting George Soros, the American financier, next to Jean-Claude Juncker,

the President of the EU Commission. And the message is that the European Union, presumably

in association with Soros, is threatening the security of Hungary.

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