a dream come true and thank you to all of you for watching and coming on this journey with me so until we meet again i'm irish waiter live from berlin signing off. on. my own mail and i'm james i'm with the brand new delusion farmers post explosive devices destructo place that affects us all on climate change in the return of full only reinforced check out.

in the e.u. germany's role is voice of this new germany gives a lot of money to the e.u. people always count on germany because we're strong and they always ask for money of people's moods we are paymasters everywhere and it's not now and if not we finance a lot is it true sure we pay a lot for the e.u. but what actually happens to the money where do those billions end up and what does germany get out of it. the e.u. promises equal living conditions in all member states does that make sense is it even feasible. good wages for work well done perspectives for a better future. how do people live in the e.u. . is europe really growing together. we travel across europe from by. area

a poor member state through dependable all germany. to cuming ireland. but we start in italy a country that conjures up beautiful images to cations. excellent cuisine. everywhere we go we see large signs saying built with e.u. subsidies for decades money from brussels has gone into construction here nevertheless italy is in a state of crisis in the south is still one of europe's poorest regions. so where have all the billions gone. this man should know they are look at orlando has been mayor of palermo for almost 20 years he's something of a national hero in italy. thanks to him the mafia and palermo has little influence these days the crime rate is the lowest in italy. the

locals like him. he shows us what he's achieved in palermo with european union funding. phone little pay little subtleties that appeal in subsidies we use for example to modernize all streetlights or he folded up his money went into restoring historic buildings and promoting cultural institutions this hour will be the official story should buddy. is one of europe's leading up to the houses following the pirates in the vienna state all probability but he will steal money enabled us to bring 1st class opera to the poor quarters of palermo through to the opening levy it was a pretty 50 year. old this was subsidized with european funds which are designated to raising living conditions in the member states. you know that one 3rd of all you money is used to help it. equal living standards

everywhere in the e.u. . to help build a brand new tram network in palermo with 2 lines already in operation for example. happen dozen more lines are under construction. we asked the mayor of palermo why should german taxpayers finances. this. one 3rd of the money comes from the italian government. one 3rd comes from the city of palermo and one 3rd from europe. the money makes palermo a better place to live in but it also benefits european industries the trams were built by boeing by ga with many parts made among men germany i'm sort of just. getting back here so the german taxpayer did partly finance the project but since some parts were built in germany it also benefits the german state gets tax revenue and german workers have jobs. is this an argument that also

convinces economists. who can piss in the sky i'm a little skeptical about the argument that delivering goods that we pay for as part of the cohesion policy program is profitable for germany it's the same logic as paying for my exports myself and giving the goods away so to speak to the bush washington. but. still price for it and so this is the price we pay to keep the e.u. together. if we didn't pay the e.u. would fall apart and also no fun oh won't view how many times we have an interest in e.u. back in when we want to support german interests in view both on the well market and in the global system of rule in very sustain the house of course that's. so germany hands over money to other member states in exchange for political support. gifts that also benefit the german economy. one e.u.

finance expert sees it differently. from who. for every $100.00 euros a german earns almost 50 are deducted and welfare contributions taxes and so on just one euro out of those 50 goes to europe the 9 year olds remain in germany including the money to pay for health insurance in this respect europe is very thrifty only 150th of public spending goes to e.u. financing. in terms of contributions to the e.u. per capita germany is far from the top. but if we take into account how much money the countries receive from the e.u. and so-called net payments germany is in 2nd place.

we travel on to sofia the bulgarian capital another recipient of german taxpayers money via e.u. subsidies. garia has the weakest economy in the u. but you wouldn't guess that after walking around sofia. thanks to e.u. funding the city has good roads and a modern metro system. sofia is booming its population is growing is this proof that european funding policies work. this policy works particularly well in the new member states the conditions there are improving so that the people remain where they are born with good opportunities are created for employment starting a family and enjoying a good standard of living throughout the e.u. . in rural northwest bulgaria things look very different there is still widespread poverty here. one some 3000 people lived in little brooch. today there are just

250. people did not stay moved to sophia even germany. has founded an association to help those who stay. with this building is a former kindergarten that closed over 5 years ago because there are hardly any children left in the village just. some absolute that really is the case. every day there's a funeral and nobody cares that's the reality. this former kindergarten is to be turned into a soup kitchen for the elderly the association has applied for subsidies but to no avail. kensho complains that only big companies get their hands on the money by paying agencies that are specialized in getting e.u. subsidies. or companies that charge 20 percent of the subsidy money to

write yeah occasions for with the project in terms we didn't commission such a company 20 percent will be our salaries for 6 months and now we are in 3rd place on some waiting list. no 33rd place. we have to review each case individually but the decision as to where infrastructure will be built in bulgaria is 1st and foremost a matter for the bulgarian government in parliament when you were elected by the bulgarian people. a person in a rural area can make suggestions the mayor then does that so we will have a 10 minutes decided by parliament in sofia which applications for funding are passed on to the e.u. but that. funding especially the money that goes to poor regions is an essential part of europeans. some of the money also benefits germany. but making sure the money

reaches those who really need it is left to the individual states. there is however an e.u. institution responsible for the common currency the e.c.b. . the euro had only been in existence for 7 years when crisis struck despite years of bailouts and 0 percent interest rates this crisis has not yet been overcome. is the euro really to blame. the euro was introduced nearly 20 years ago but there are german shoppers who still calculate prices in deutsche marks. a 1000 german citizens were asked what they thought of the common currency.

78 percent said that they were satisfied with the euro only 21 percent were dissatisfied with the common currency. the mood in italy is quite different the country is in crisis the economy is in decline. more and more talons are feeling the pinch like sebastiano all yes he works as a shoeshine or an palermo. his customers are lawyers businessmen people who can afford to pay $10.00 euros for a shoeshine and enjoy a chat at the same time. sometimes about europe. what do you think about the european elections. that brussels finally understands that europe should be a europe for the people. also for the people who need most solidarity the poor of people. of the sort of people that are. 7 years ago sebastiano worked for the

local lawyers association not during the euro crisis the lawyers also ran short of money. lost his job and couldn't find a new one he came up with the idea of reviving the shoeshine trade and found in a cooperative sebastiano is now its chairman and not a fan of the euro. but i don't know the euro didn't do me any good on the contrary the euro harmed me our prices have doubled but wages haven't. a clue to that and when they say that we are now over the crisis they are just fooling people. we should not just look out for the multinationals but the small craftsman the small companies. the man on the street is still experiencing a crisis. because people see the war. that was not always the case. if

you compare the average economic strength of all euro countries with italy it becomes clear before the introduction of the euro italy was fairing better than the e.u. average but when the euro was introduced things went downhill since the beginning of the financial crisis the italian economy has been in a much worse state and it still hasn't recovered. what is wrong in italy and what do the italians think about the euro and the e.u. . i need you to manage your company i would say that germany is the lion. and italy they deserve. it and i sell to say. we were better off with the lira. and today with the euro we have low wages high prices. and we see we really are doing well but what if it but. and.

has been waiting in vain for customers for 2 hours. before shining shoes she worked in a shoe factory she's a typical victim of the problems italy's industry is facing i mean. what i never thought i could see the crisis coming when i was working in the factory. but we made $150.00 pairs of shoes per week but about $750.00 per month but it slowly dropped to 50 pairs per week so on nobody to shine my shoes on i knew that i could soon be out of a job though i said to be thought yes sir alicia and. now she works on the street. but she still keeps in touch with her old factory colleagues. the company has existed for over 50 years and is now run by the son of the founder. used to employ more than 50

people. now just a dozen her left hand crafted shoes from italy were in high demand for decades but manual labor has become expensive in italy. the. production costs are quite high. the taxes. sure many companies prefer to produce abroad. but if you bring the finished product it's only just. here or there you can say it's made in italy. even though it's not ready made in italy. in the premier 0 era the exchange rate could help in such a situation. that the time products became too expensive abroad the lira could be devalued. that is no longer the case.

i. have always said that if countries are very very different if they are very asymmetrical then they need the exchange rate as a kind of safety valve when it helps to make an adjustment if developments are too unequal but that is no longer possible because there is no exchange rate that can compensate for the time because we have experienced some countries have not learned to cope with this over the last 10 years since the crisis began. what does the e.c.b. as former chief economist say about this don't blame the euro for your own weaknesses i think the number of weaknesses in a tendency to blame the euro as a way as a scapegoat you know to say that to hide a little bit your own problems and there was a tendency in some countries to the preceded the currency when they had really fundamental problems of competition but that was always always there was always temporary gains that it could have in competition the real problems were never solved actually one if you leave before us to reach it why isn't it indicated

sufficiently why don't you have the fusion of technology that's nothing to do with the euro. italy would have to modernize its economic policies. factory would have to invest in new machinery and more effective production methods . but that would create new problems for gaia tunnel lombardo. into the bank of course the banks don't grant loan assistance they were during a crisis they fear that the company will be unable to repay the loan in one or 2 years time. no mortgages no securities nothing yet. italian banks are considered particularly crisis prone this could be one reason why it's hard to get a loan in italy despite the fact that the e.c.b. has been keeping interest rates at record lows for years. the low interest rates are designed to simplify lending processes and boost the economy.

but smaller companies that need to invest are often refused loans. why is that. very carefully credits because. in the past but credit conditions today thanks to the e.c.b. . that doesn't mean that bad business gets credit the bank that's their responsibility. this factory owner does not have such problems his company grow is excelling. we're in poland an e.u. country with a booming economy but it still has its own currency the swati. florek greets a delegation of buyers from around europe he founded his company shortly after the iron curtain was raised it makes windows mainly skylights. today he has more than $4000.00 employees and

a 15 percent world market share the company is doing well just like the polish economy. why is that we ask. when you voted and just come through the crisis well because the swat team has dropped in value. competitive on the market. things are worse in greece where the currency could not be devalued. this is completely understandable from an economic point of view. as you can see down. well without the euro in recent years they know that if they introduced the euro they risk perhaps one day having to pay for the mistakes of other countries and the silence of most of the polls say they do not want that with the league and i can understand the strategy that they're pursuing. the point of. the polls have learned from the experiences of the euro crisis and other countries. but does that really mean that

the euro is not a long term prospect for poland. sen. i think that we want the euro but the opponent is still not ready for it. and i think the economic standards of the standard of living in poland must increase 1st and then we can profit from joining the euro zone to fill. the euro does not guarantee economic success everywhere in europe in southern europe we can see the kinds of problems the euro brings of companies are not competitive. the mountains of debt are growing and with them the risk of new crises. in comparison the german economy is booming with the euro many think thanks to the euro. europe is an important market for this company . techs makes special industrial vehicles called side loaders 400 people work in

this factory in eastern has and. the region enjoys full employment and skilled workers are urgently needed do they owe their standard of living to the e.u. . what do germans think does the e.u. bring them advantages individually. in a representative survey 67 percent said the e.u. membership brought them advantages. 10 percent thought the advantages and disadvantages balanced out. 19 percent of those surveyed took a more negative view. the main advantages for employees would be secure jobs and good wages but how did germans rate their wage levels where do they think people are in the most in europe. i would say ireland really ok.

i think i would put germany in 2nd place then france. spain and italy. and where do you think people are in the least. it totally. i think the irish are ahead of germany on average. to. the much i think germany is further ahead. i think spain and italy are further behind. nobody knew that when it comes to these 5 countries germany is only in the middle people in france and ireland have higher average incomes than in germany. when i was here joe has a doing fine they're not doing fine having a bed a roof over my head something to drink and something to eat that's not doing well that's simply the basic need of every human being. so how well is a german skilled worker doing christiane angle is 40 married and has 3 children.

after training as an agricultural machinery mechanic he changed to his current job . he's been welding heavy steel parts as a precision worker for hope tex for almost half his life. than if i'd. been with hook tech since january 1st 2000 next year it will be 20 years the working environment is very good i take home 2 and a half 1000 euros a month that makes him a typical german skilled worker pretty much an average german income he lives on the outskirts of pulled up in his parents' old farm together with his wife carina and their 3 children. ok now has a part time job with a low income. together they have around $3000.00 euros net income for a month they only have to pay the utilities for the apartment in their parent's house that means they can afford an annual skiing holiday in the alps and various other things but do they think they earn enough money to lead a good life as

a family with children. or are things becoming increasingly tight as things stand that's really i think it's become more difficult wages are certainly not rising as fast as the costs. i don't know when that started or when things changed a lot but wages certainly don't go up as much as prices do. many people in germany think they have less purchasing power than in the past. but is it true. what do the experts think. if we have a tendency to forget what things were really like in the past we have magine them better than they were people might say everything gets worse and worse but in many ways that just isn't the case. for you. in the past you couldn't go abroad on holiday for you. know people started to go to italy

once a year. now people take 2 vacations. pretty order but when you think back and really think seriously about what a phone call costs for example. a vehicle today have much more purchasing power to feed off in fact the cost of living in rural areas such as here on the outskirts of is lower than in some german cities or other european regions so how satisfied is the angle family with their income and standard of living. here in full though we still live very well and prices are still ok. i think that germany in comparison to other e.u. countries is somewhere in the middle there are other e.u. countries with lower incomes but also countries with higher ones. when we compare average incomes in the e.u. germany is in fact behind countries like ireland belgium and france germany ranks 10th. italy takes 12th place followed by mostly eastern european states garia

landes 2nd to last. in comparison wages in germany are still high but clearly no longer at the top. it's true that for many years we had relatively strong wage restraint on the other hand employment has increased sharply so the question we should be asking is how many more people have jobs and that certainly the great success story in germany in the last few years. the fact that me. more people have full time jobs with all the welfare benefits shifting. but not only that if you compare the wages to the prices in germany in other words convert them into purchasing power german households are among the top in the e.u. . partly because of lower food prices.

but how big are the differences still in the e.u. . how does a skilled worker in both area really live since the country join the e.u. more and more companies like this one have emerged. erect some engineering makes metal parts for a number of german car makers. also a skilled worker in his late thirty's he's been responsible for the maintenance and repair of the factory machines for the past 8 years. because i came here by chance. an acquaintance told me the factory was looking for someone with my qualifications i applied i got the job and started as an electrician and machine maintenance. his gross monthly income is around $1200.00 euros. tax and insurance deductions are just under 30 percent so he's left with less than $1000.00. and. that's

a comparatively good income and his standard of living is fairly high. his wife also works full time together they have almost 2000 and. the state pension is quite low so they pay into a private retirement plan. the cost of living is low their rented apartment costs barely $150.00 euros a month. so skilled workers. are doing better than. here we go to the. and then we go to greece where a few weekends. the greek coast is nice and close according to a used to cystic spoke area is its poorest member but this family seems to be doing ok. pretty and we can meet all our expenses and our needs so right now things are good. we meet the 3rd skilled worker in our comparison at

inter in northern italy. italy is a founding member of the e.u. and in the european income statistics lies just behind germany. wants to show us what this means for him. he's a skilled metal worker in his mid forty's and has been with for over 20 years but he earns less than his german colleague. just 1450 euros net but that isn't his biggest problem. in the beginning we were almost 10000 workers now we're 5000 i used to think a job with would be a guarantee of earning money and being able to feed my family. but today we are talking about wage reductions and insecurity. and. i don't know what the future will be for my children. and that's what i find most worrying. such

a question of and. in order to avoid mass layoffs alessandro like all his colleagues has foregone a part of his wages for years. his wife also works full time to make ends meet and together they bring home $2800.00 euros almost as much as the german family. they own a nice apartment which costs $1000.00 euros including utilities that's about the same as they would pay in rent. they only had enough money to get a mortgage because they sold her. parent's house. we owe it to her parents that we could never have bought an apartment like this. but they saved their whole lives made sacrifices never went on holiday. and those were different times a different generation. property acquired over generations has a long tradition in southern europe more than 2 thirds of all households own their

homes in germany just under half. if you consider the total assets that is real estate and savings germans clearly lie behind spaniards italians even greeks at 15th place. but why is that. we have as it were hidden. namely of claims to health insurance of accident insurance and pension funds. they are typically not included in assets although the constitutional court has declared them to be guaranteed as a. theater for movies pushed on top of the torch and. the italians provide for old age primarily with property but need to watch every penny of school meals insurance higher food prices than in germany money fast becomes tight and maybe

that's why. we can't afford holidays and a hotel or expensive clubs. we rent an apartment by the sea where we cook for ourselves and because it's cheaper always here in italy on the uniform and if we need something new like a t.v. we always look for 0 interest offerings. of the 3 skilled workers in 3 countries all the sondra seems the least satisfied because of low pay high costs and because many in italy are a lot worse off than he is. i sincerely hope that europe will change for the better right now i see a bleak future for my children there are hardly any jobs in italy has. 30 year old still live at home and that hardly anyone has children. anyone who went to university moved abroad that is the saddest thing of all descriptions of.

people in the new e.u. member states benefit from europe the most but in italy the young generation no longer enjoys the same prosperity as their parents in fact they depend on them standards of living also depend on the economic policies of individual countries but what should those be is there a suitable recipe for everyone. the hundreds of years europe strength has lain in the fact that very different economic coaches existed within. the. u.v. they each had their own strengths. they competed with each other but that's what made them extremely successful. confidant. our next stop is the republic of ireland. plagued by the euro crisis just

a few years ago it's booming today. is it because ireland attracts american companies as a tax haven or have the irish found their own hitherto unknown recipe for economic success. we head to the countryside to meet a successful young entrepreneur. it's a bit of a mess. well this is where basically our dream starters it does look like a nightmare now but i do you can see up here on the roof we had an old roof go up on the roof fix the hole move the timber back over again and the next coming that might be water coming down over here it's kind of touching us by surprise on what is growing so yeah and that we've opened up new markets and keeps

getting very well received so i can see that changing by water. and this is the product that brought him so much success and electrically extended attic staircase with a patent valid in most of the world. peter morrow was originally a fitter for regular manual attic stairs. he came up with the idea of adding an electric motor and spent 2 years tinkering with the idea in his old barn he found ireland to be a paradise for entrepreneurs minimal costs hardly any formalities. and an office that gives extensive support to start ups in almost every town. the forcing the assets to do was to complete a business training course but then we didn't have much equipment or any equipment

at all and they gave us funding towards pi and unishe too quickly that we needed to start production got to meet mentors which are all the business successful business people who are in similar industries to our own god is meeting with them and talking to them and advising those and it's just a wonderful wonderful way to start out on the body's business. there are 31 local enterprise offices in ireland they even inspire entrepreneurship and school students the students have to market their products in a nationwide competition and the most successful when a substantial grant package. we meet the head of the office that helps peter morrow set up his company. is hugely important for ireland the parts and. it's a huge market for us for our clients as they grow and develop but a fundamental part of the importance of to our local businesses is our financial

our co-founders by the european regional development fund so not only do you provide the markers but you also provide some of the sports help our local businesses. peter morrow now has 5 employees and this company has a turnover of more than $1000000.00 euros a year to begin with most of his products went to england but the threat of bragg's it caused the pound to slump peter sales fell and his company was at risk then the local enterprise office financed a trade fair stand for him in the united states. he landed a major order but he had just 6 weeks to deliver as many staircases as they usually produces in 4 months again he received support from the local enterprise office. they introduced us to a lean strategy for our. company which basically is a strategy for making your process a lot more efficient so you can turn out the product much much quicker since then

we also applied for another grant from them which is called an expansion grant which again we were eligible for and we've invested heavily in new equipment to again increase our production. with the new equipment he could more than double production in personnel and now exports worldwide the fruits of an irish industrial policy and an alleged tax haven that could set an example for germany. it is important for us not to be totally dependent on foreign direct investment into our land we have to. say so in the last 5 years. have helped create. new jobs across the country we have more people employed now than we did before the recession hit. ireland is booming like almost no other e.u. country this can really be seen in dublin of course international corporations like

google apple and facebook who use the country as a tax haven are a factor. but ireland has long since begun to increase taxes for corporations and uses e.u. financial aid to build its own economy and to go its own way. our last stop is spain. thousands of young people left the country during the euro crisis but many are now returning. how do they view european differences and similarities. one person who came back to spain was paloma alonzo. she's a nurse until year ago she held a steady job in munich she worked in germany for 5 years. then she returned home and now works in a private clinic and zaragoza. she has only a temporary contract and earns a 3rd less but with similar outgoings. nevertheless she does not

regret coming back to spain because she finds her job much more challenging than in germany but if i'm flow across here in spain i can take blood or place an infusion drip i woke up like i do things here that doctors do in germany. you don't feel so much like a subordinate sitting on your butt in germany i had the feeling i was just an assistant at the live video a working environment is different here. what did she miss in germany what made her decide to return to spain. i don't know whether the sun. you go out a lot with your colleagues after work drink coffee or play sports together people take their jobs much more seriously in germany we take our work seriously too but it's different. these are all fine examples which show we should respect our different traditions but it would be wrong to introduce the spanish siesta in

northern europe or to take it away from the spaniards because we don't have it in northern europe the fact that people go from one country to another and back again is of course great news for europe. fund for perhaps they didn't like some aspects of working in germany but perhaps some things in the german hospital were not so badly organized it means knowledge can flow from spain to germany and also in the other direction. people and countries can learn from each other exchange experiences. but it appears the differences make a difference. and what does this mean for the future of e.u. economic and social policies. in a representative survey 55 percent of germans believe that every e.u. country must go its own way. however 37 percent a good 3rd say that the other countries should take germany as their role model.

would that really make sense. so it didn't include we should avoid the thinking that you have to drive on the same motorway as everyone else opiate at different speeds good so numb and so to fish this is for the us we need to understand that it may be more important for each country with its specific economic to go its own way in order to create a transport network in europe from which everyone can benefit it's. interested in or book she's the a little. the ability to move freely in europe for education and work is a win win situation for many core regions are better off thanks to the e.u. billions and people are given prospects for the future. but this will not achieve equal prosperity for all there are different strengths and weaknesses as well as different mentalities in the e.u.

states. but these differences should be seen as an opportunity. to hospital visits into patients. for the longest time the floating hospital company francisco was just a dream. now attends to patients along the amazon with no other access to medical care. and saves lives to. sign up solidarity in a hospital ship on the amazon. 90 minutes on t.w. .

years after the fall of the berlin wall november night w. . when your family scattered across the globe. the defense has to do is to. turn back to the roots government of. the shah's family from somalia live around the world to. the needed urgent assistance of. the family starts october of any on.

this is d. w. news coming to you live from berlin environmental activists staged drastic actions to draw attention to the calls of climate change in cities around the world members of the group extinction rebellion are aiming to paralyze traffic and occupied buildings to get their message across also coming up protestors in hong kong braves rubber bullets and clouds of tear gas to deploy a ban on face masks tens of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets once more police begin arresting those who violate the back.