Recent elections in Hungary, Italy, Poland and Austria have largely led to governments that voice an anti-migration policy. These governments represent the voice of their voters and put the pressure on Europe.

During this program, we discuss the influence of these governments on the European migration policy. We focus on Hungary, which regards itself as the fore-runner of the anti-migration front in Europe. Can the European Union strike a balance between the concerns of European citizens on migration on the one hand and its obligations with regard to refugees under the Charter of the European Union on the other? Is Europe able to resolve this as a union? And what is at stake if this does not work?

We speak, among others, with Péter Krekó (director of the Hungarian think-tank Political Capital and author of the book ‘The Hungarian Far-Right’), Paul Scheffer (publicist and professor of European Studies) and the Dutch Members of the European Parliament (MEP) Kati Piri (PvdA) and Judith Sargentini (GroenLinks).

About the speakers

• Péter Krekó is a social psychologist and political scientist from Hungary. He is the executive director of Political Capital since 2011. He studies the Russian ‘soft power policy’, political populism and extremism in Europe. He is a member of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian Political Sciences Association. He was co-chair of the PREVENT working group of the EU Radicalization Awareness Network (RAN) and is currently a member of the RAN Center of Excellence. He is frequently asked to comment in international media.
• Paul Scheffer is a publicist and professor of European Studies at the University of Tilburg and the University of Amsterdam. Previously he was, among other things, correspondent in Paris and Warsaw. In June his essay titled ‘Immigratie in een open samenleving’ (available in pdf), was published at the request of the Scientific Council for Government Policy.
• Andras Kocsis is the Hungarian ambassador in the Netherlands. Prior to this function he served as Head of Cabinet to the Deputy Minister for European and American Affairs for a few months.
• Kati Piri is MEP for the PvdA. She is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the committee onCivil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
• Judith Sargentini is MEP for Groen Links. She also deals with the issues of refugees, the fight against money laundering and cross border crime and privacy.
• Tomas Vanheste is correspondent ‘Europe, between power and imagination’. He closes the evening with a column.

This audio of this event will be recorded and broadcasted via internet (TXT Radio). 

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Photo: Mstyslav Chernov (Creative Commons)