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Last broadcast on Tue, 17 Jan 2012, 02:05 on BBC World Service (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Hungary's centre-right government has galvanized critics at home and abroad with its new controversial constitution.
There have been mass protests in the country, opposition politicians have chained themselves to gates outside public buildings, and the prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been dubbed Viktator.
The EU, IMF and the US have rebuked the Hungarian government over its changes to election rules, the central bank and the judiciary, warning they will erode democracy and entrench one-party rule.
Zeinab Badawi speaks to Hungary's Government Communication Minister, Zoltán Kovács.
His government says the reforms are necessary to modernise the Hungarian state.
But with the country badly in need of a $20bn international bailout - is it about to perform a U-turn and back down?
Are Hungary's reforms a step too far?
As Hungary's new constitutional and financial reforms meet with strong opposition, the BBC's Nick Thorpe considers the government's record in office since April 2010
Hungary country profile
Hungary traces its history back to the Magyars, an alliance of semi-nomadic tribes from southern Russia and the Black Sea coast that arrived in the region in the ninth century
Broadcasts
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Mon 16 Jan 201209:05
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Mon 16 Jan 201212:05
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Mon 16 Jan 201216:05
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Mon 16 Jan 201220:05
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Tue 17 Jan 201202:05
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