The River Danube isn’t the only thing that links Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries share a common history – as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, as members of the Cold-War era Eastern bloc, and since 2004, as members of the European Union. In 2018, Hungary and Slovakia have both been under scrutiny over their behaviour as European member states. Hungary has come under fire for what Brussels sees as pressure on democratic institutions, the judiciary, the independent press, and more. In part one of our programme, we're in Budapest to explore some of the biggest recent issues in Hungary: asking government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs whether his country might change its stance on migrants in the face of a threatened loss of EU voting rights; we also meet Greens group MEP Benedek Javor, who tells us his predictions for the next four years under Viktor Orban; our reporters investigate claims of corruption and misuse of public funds; and we visit the offices of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations to hear why the NGO is shutting its doors in Hungary – the first time it’s closed down operations in an EU member state.

Click here to watch part two of the programme, on Slovakia.