Hungary and France

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Owen Bennett Jones introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world. In this edition: Nick Thorpe in Budapest meets Hungary's abrasive Prime Minister Viktor Orban; Hugh Schofield hears an enthralling tale of how one French Resistance figure escaped the Nazis. Europe's newest bogeyman-in-chief? Hungary brought in some sweeping constitutional changes at the start of this year - and they've triggered a political crisis. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund are saying there could be a price to pay if the country's government fails to guarantee the independence of the central bank and cut its deficit. But there are also longer-term concerns about the way the nation is heading. Nick Thorpe – who has been based in Budapest for more than 25 years - has been watching events unfold, and recently met up again with the Prime Minister. The narrowest of escapes France after the Second World War built its national self-image in large part on the basis of the Resistance - those brave men and women who never accepted Nazi rule. As the years roll by, there are ever fewer survivors of this period still alive to tell us what they lived thorugh. But there’s one man with us still whose experiences in the war read like an adventure thriller: the 97 year-old Raymond Aubrac. An associate of the great Resistance leader Jean Moulin, Raymond Aubrac was sentenced to death by the Nazis - but was sprung from jail by his wife Lucie. Hugh Schofield went to meet Mr Aubrac and hear his extraordinary story. (Photo shows the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Credit: AFP)