port also serves as a port for the czech republic we handle $500000.00 containers that are check so we also benefit from the czech export economy and what the czech republic imports from china for example. that sounds impressive close to 25 percent of jobs in germany depend on exports in recent years the country's foreign trade balance has showed record surpluses. so germany is an excellent economic shape but what about other countries that are less well off. i'm off to italy i'm going to explore the dark side of the e.u. along with the widely held idea that the e.u. is too weak. the mediterranean no known this seems so a dilemma in the last 3 years an estimated 10000 people have lost their lives

trying to cross and many of those who survived the journey ended up here and it really is. why can't the e.u. solve this crisis what's the situation like today. for years refugees have been trying to reach italy via the mediterranean the e.u. has failed to relocate them evenly across the member states and italy has been largely left alone with a crisis far right populist seize the moment and were voted into power now the government has closed its english pause as a result the number of refugees arriving in spain quadrupled in 2018 to 40000 feet . that. i'm eating evil sunny he used to pick tomatoes as a day laborer now he loves and lyman campaigns against the exploitation of refugees in southern the police agricultural sector. is. cheney against her for refugees he

cut her living as day laborers. but. that sort of many of the harvest workers live in the ghetto because they hope to find work in the fields to level the litigators of lost places or cities within the city marked by desperation and crime. beat up what a lot of it. was in on tells me that the mafia is involved in aspects courses of sr. so called up what ani act is intermediaries controlling the migrant workers often forcibly. and the cost of transporting food and water is deducted from their wages leaving them with as little as $3.00 euros 50 a day. and a lot of the tomatoes they pick exported to germany where few are aware of the conditions in which they were harvested.

slaves for the couple of the agricultural businesses and the system to give off it's not right that goods harvested this way end up on consumers plates will be portable we at this produce every day europe needs to put a better monitoring system in place for agricultural production needs to be monitored and certified give out. this get out as known as a model matter no no. it's right next to an official refugee camp it's a bizarre juxtaposition of worlds and one refugees are waiting to find out if they can stay and then the other others his asylum applications were turned down. the squalor the shocking. oh my gosh.

right well there are 3 toilets for everyone it stinks. oh my god. but the man still shaves here even though there's no running water. and. there's nothing to harvest these days. so the migrant workers spend all their time hanging around and i guess are. those who live at the edge of the camp of the lucky ones. the 20 people shared this stone building it's no right left. how does it do you think the east too weak live none at all been lost by instead of a man gone and the e.u. isn't intervening here to solve the problems it's not taking part in the discussion about immigration. these are real people living breathing people who experienced torture crossed deserts to get here but. not the will

people who fought they were going to paradise on earth partly because they see the e.u.'s the cradle of human rights. but now they're here and they're being used as slaves they've been stripped of every last scrap of dignity so. the fact that a continent as wealthy as europe is letting people exist like this raises a lot of questions. paul ince joined the e.u. 15 years ago i'm on my way there to get to the bottom of a completely opposite idea that the e.u. interferes too much. in warsaw i'm meeting some people to find out more in 2017 the e.u. commission triggered article 7 disciplinary measures for the 1st time in its history against poland. it was on the grounds of a clear risk of

a serious breach of the rule of law the toughest sanctions also known as the nuclear option suspend certain rights such as voting bot it requires a unanimous vote in the european council and hungry announced it would veto any sanctions that the e.u. might propose against poland. the threats proceedings against a member state is that going too far. do you think the e.u. is meddling in polish affairs. no i don't think so i haven't raised this we're trying to hold up we're part of europe. and western standards and rules should influence poland. that's something positive i think of the the what is not talking about us i think the e.u. can give us the best of everything freedom but no borders or a better standard of living actually. i i i don't care about what they did stick company to complicated for me. to just crazy for me. i

find what's going on here a bit crazy when the right wing law and justice party came to power in 2015 it began introducing judicial reforms including lowering the retirement age of supreme court judges as a way of forcing out opponents of the government according to the e.u. the reforms threaten judicial independence putting democracy in jeopardy. the country's president is andre duda but poland's political mastermind is jaroslav conscience leader of the law and justice party. 2 years ago regular protests against the judicial reforms were held here among the demonstrators was monica much worse a member of the grassroots movement see

a democrat see a. morning coat i hope you brought me the can to pay for you yes there's a lot of smoke and look from 2 years ago no not but similar yes almost the same yes do you remember the time 2 years ago. the movement slogan was a better and fairer poland in 2017 it mobilized thousands of people to protest against their reforms they took to the streets with candles night after night. but now some reason it stopped the west to protest going. i think you can't i mean expect from people to especially in hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands to be on the streets every day about something. and this is the major problem now in poland. did we have the current government throwing us every day with the new issues that we could potentially protest about. that the e.u.

is at least interfering a lot in national laws is that true is it a p.c. as a tool i wouldn't say it's a cliche definitely not it's also not true i am what i would say is that this is the only institution the on the force that is sort of helping poland and enough to go down the drain we have at the moment a systemic you know which is literally one person taking all of the major decisions a good leader can seem so yes yes for the country which is absolutely unacceptable i mean this is not a democracy. that use most draconian disciplinary measure can't be enforced because one country vetoes it is it really fair to call the e.u. interfering.

in southern italy i'm still finding out what the e.u. was doing to help the country deal with the refugee situation. if it's too weak to . the things you know how do you feel about the plight of refugees here in italy advena you know what can i say i feel sorry for the immigrants and like to give them somewhere to live food work and i know it's not italy's problem it's the use problem on holidays. you get the impression the e.u. is just too weak to find solutions. had to feel now and also no i think the e.u.

is very strong and could find a solution or maybe it just doesn't want to. it's certainly left italy to deal with the issue of. one of italy's biggest trade unions issues what permits for migrants but only those with a residence permits now the right wing populist material such as interior minister i'm told that hardly anyone is awarded a walk upon that. so what europe can do it's just go rent more rights for these people that are here for walking not for entertainment or something like that i mean it's really on the margins. some people in poland do think the use interfering too much. one of them is alexandra robbins just a german polish journalist who works for a starfleet conservative news organization that publishes a weekly magazine staff here are pro-government and one could say the skeptics.

think he was interfering too much true. i'd say the european commission is meddling mainly in terms of the legal proceedings for most people the european commission used to be a weird club making sure bananas weren't crooked and issuing idiotic directives that no one needed. but i think the newer member states feel like they're treated differently than other countries that a city on their own and poland is a big country and we aren't going to just be at the beck and call of germany and france. have so basically chancellor merkel calls the shots so yes to a large extent she is calling the shots of your. we need the e.u. 1st and foremost as a market and as an economic power the question is do we need a political eat you. have so we just shut it down and start over oh no no we need

reform. but if there were reform what would be left an economic union fenced off to others putting national interests 1st and no longer a union with common values that's not my kind of europe. and it's not his either in february this rising political star found the new left wing liberal party. polish for spring. according to the latest polls he's now the most popular politician in the country will bear on an openly gay atheist. let us know wants to boost the clean energy sector and support young entrepreneurs separate church and state and approve same sex marriage be it on wants poland to embrace europe and his message is going down well with young voters tell us tell you still when you put up

a stolen belongs to iraq and whether or not it makes progress is closely tied to the e.u. . at the moment poland isn't taking part in any discussion about the european union but it doesn't have any ideas about how to contribute that's something we need to change. is further to be pro european and we'll fight to integrate poland more closely into the e.u. decision day. by school. i ask our translator who's from warsaw what she thinks about the e.u. is treatment of poland. even a deal music spiels i think the e.u. is too slow too wishy washy and too indecisive. we think it's regrettable that the e.u. doesn't intervene more but rather lets the government carry on with its nonsense function right that's one. well she didn't mince her words contrary to our 1st impressions people in poland are actually well disposed to the e.u.

and the latest polls show that a majority are in favor of it. that goes for italy too i'm still on the road trying to find out of the e.u. as a helpless bystander or a hopeful ally. i asked my translator what she thinks she's from naples and used to live in germany. shabby not much on the skin of the face i get the feeling that lots of countries have understood that things can't go on like this that this would be easy they realize that this union needs to be managed on different terms for all sits back and shifted and so on to. everyone seems to agree that the e.u. needs to change but how. that's a question that sociologists from anetta from its researchers at the university of

georgia. in the if to what extent is europe to blame for the current situation what i meant that the problem with europe is that no one has paid enough attention to its social aspects economic europe is a more or less successful model but political europe has failed now we need to have a go at a social europe. nonprofit up on the. exactly do you go about creating a social europe my visit to italy has been i have. how can a supposed union create social cohesion how can it work with a member state with a populist government that doesn't respect the e.u. .