♪ >> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw studios in brussels. thanks for tuning in. here's what we have today -- dreaming of prosperity. while lauding women in bulgaria are working in germany. protecting animals -- why the and as horse-drawn carriages could be under threat. and do not drive -- get paid. how the netherlands are fighting traffic jams. economic and cultural hub is also home to what looks like one of europe's biggest slums. there's hardly any drinking water and few people have jobs. most are an ethnic minority in

europe, raimondi's. they dream of a better future, and the women believe they know where to find it -- far away in germany. >> this part of a western german city is not exactly what you would call a top factors. it may look quite enough, but a quick browse on the internet reveals that until recently, it was a center of street prostitution. up to 80 women offer their services here with customers come in from all over the region. many of the women were roma from bulgaria. >> a very large number of them came. it got so great that the city council decided to close down the street prostitution here and to ban street walkers from the entire municipal area. >> the hope was that the women would return to their homes in bulgaria.

this is where most of them come from. some 50,000 people live here, mostly romani families. she worked the streets of the german city virgilio years, but she missed her child too much and return home. but she says she has good memories of her time. >> live in germany was good. my clients treated me better than my own husband does. we did have to hide from the police all the time, and there were many fights among the women, but i want to go back as soon as my son is big enough. amity " is still very strong

here, and this social worker knows all too well. she regularly visits the families of women who are currently in germany or have just returned. she does not try to discourage the women from illegal prostitution, as she knows it would be pointless, but she does advise them on matters of contraception and sexually transmitted diseases here today, she is visiting naisha. she has heard many stories like hers, and it is one she knows from her own family as well. >> i know an awful lot of women from this district who are in germany right now. my own sister in law -- sister- in-law is there as well. my brother lost a lot of money playing cards, so he sold his wide to give him -- so this -- sold his wife to a pimp. she has been there more than 10

years. >> some enter this as a sign that the desperate state of affairs is slowly changing. >> since money has been coming in from germany, there has been a noticeable improvement in living standards. people are better dressed. had better contacts with high society. they go to better restaurants and even traveled as tourists. dam it mayor invites us to take a tour of these improved conditions in the company of the chief of police. but we see no good restaurants, and it seems high society is living it up elsewhere. what we see is houses with no running water and filthy, muddy roads. most of the district's inhabitants are unemployed. many are illiterate. as we arrive at the office of the roma foundation self-help

group, our interviewees get cold feet, citing other obligations, but the chief of police has one other point to make your >> the german police had a huge problem of prostitution. they asked us for help, so we sent some of our officers to them. now the problem has finally been solved. the women are back home in bulgaria. the police were able to get the situation under control with our help. >> when the social workers here this, they cannot believe their ears. aisha promises to show us what is really going on. around the corner at the western union booz, business is brisk. the men come here to pick up the money their wives sent back. it is understandable that they do not want to be filmed. only with aisha's intervention

do we get away unscathed. the social worker is well respected here. >> there were three of these booths here in the street alone, and they are busy all the time. it may be expensive, but it is the fastest way to get money back home, so, you see, our women are still in germany. then suddenly, the chief of police appears with a letter from the german police, which he says will back up his claims. but it seems the letter was incorrectly translated. there is no mention of the situation improving. in fact, the letter asks for even more bulgarian police officers. for many people here, the faraway streets really are paved with gold. the women may have been driven out of dortmond, but they certainly have not gone away.

they are just working the streets elsewhere, and that is unlikely to change, as long as life as a prostitute in germany seems better than life back home in bulgaria. >> when you look for the best way to get around vienna, what could be more fitting than sitting in typical horse-drawn carriage that rolls across the city's cobblestone streets? these have been the bread and butter for many generations of families in the austrian capital, but this could change because the government wants stricter controls. >> this is friends. his table is located in a southern district of vienna. -- this is prince. this is his owner. they are about to set out together for be a pose a historic city center. historic -- horse-drawn carriages are popular with the crowds of tourists there.

>> this is not a job you set your sights on. it is a calling. the nice thing is that you work with people and give them a good time. you showed them the sides with typical viennese humor, and when the ride is over and people say they liked it, it gives you a good feeling. >> but getting to work in the center is a rough commute. it takes nearly an hour along the main streets. that can test the patience of the drivers and the horses. >> when i read in a new course, i take someone along who can jump down and helped calm him down. >> easy carriage driver like his father before him. he has 16 employees, making him one of the bigger operators, but there is a lot of competition. the key to success is attracting passengers. >> a bright room to be can book a carriage ride to the market

square with the famous wedding fountain -- a bright room to be. that is one of my packages. they get out. the young lady is all flustered, and then the man proposes. >> but the days of romantic carriage rides in vienna could be numbered. 170 carriages by for the 58 slots allotted daily around the cathedral. since april, the city's new center-left government has imposed tougher conditions. operating hours have been shortened. the horses have to be fed at fixed times, and a horse can only be hitched up for carriage rides every other day at most. >> from an animal rights perspective, the problem was the working hours, the feeding, and it was hard to verify whether the animals were given a break and how often they were being used. then there were some deficiencies in the driver's professional training.

the new regulations address some of these problems. >> the drivers say the new rules do not improve things for the animals and are a threat to 1- man operations. owners say they have always taken care of the horses because they are vital to their livelihood. >> no one can afford to have six forces that just hobble along. we are quite capable of looking after the well-being of the animals ourselves. >> the animal protection argument claims the drivers who only have two forces could potentially use them 365 days a year. that is nonsense. my wife would never let me work seven days a week. i work a five-day week. i have two mares and a gelding. the mares were used three days a

week ago the four, so i had to reduce my operations by half. ironically, have the slots that were taken away from us small guys were given to the bigger players. >> some complain the bigger operators pushed the city to enact tougher rules in order to strengthen their hold on the market. it is unclear whether the changes are just politics or truly intended to benefit the horses. for tourists, the new regulations have removed the need to shock the market. the visitors from the u.s. cannot wait till everyone back home about their romantic carriage ride. they do not see the dark side of the business. the turf wars on the streets of vienna. >> it is the second attempt to form a functioning government. crisis-torn greece is holding elections again in june. while the political elite are

busy preparing for them, everyday life is getting harder for ordinary greeks. food prices, for instance, remain high, even though many people have less money in their pockets. some greeks have had enough. they have not taken matters into their own hands. >> 11 tons of rice from his last harvest. he wants to sell the rest quickly. his fields are spread around, and it means a lot of driving. rising fuel costs and declining sales have hurt business, and he is not getting any younger. >> i am 75 years old. i have been working the fields since i was four. that means 71 years. >> he was not able to work for four months due to an operation. now, he is cutting out the middlemen and selling his rice directly to buyers at a higher profit. the sales are raised by private initiatives, communities, and in

this case, the local university. customers order online and can pick up their goods without a week. a kilo of honey 4515 euros. five leaders of all of oil for 15 years. five leaders for a sack of potatoes. -- 5 euros for a sack of potatoes. prices are half of four supermarkets are asking. many shop for their neighbors. he sells his rise for one year of her killer. dealers give him 25 cents, and supermarkets charge of 25 years. many customers are out of work and cutting costs. >> i still have money to survive and live in a proper way, more or less. it is difficult, of course. >> now that there are direct sales, the supermarkets have started lowering their prices as well.

>> farmers told in the dealers were not always paying as promised. he and others were left waiting for their money. >> many farmers hand over their produce without getting paid upfront and then do not get any money. how has it been for this man? not so good, either, it seems veery this woman's friend waited three years for payments. >> i'm not saying we should do away with dealers. what i want to do is lower the price marked a -- marked up. that way, consumers to get more for their money, and the farmers would get their money right away. >> but some local officials are not happy about direct selling. one former administrator says it hurts other businesses and tarnishes the country's image. >> it looks like a third-world

country here with the roadside stands. it is what breeds look like in the 1940's and 1950's. we cannot have it looking like this. we have weekly markets, and the farmers can sell their products at the established weekly markets. >> he says he did use to sell his rise at the weekly market, but business was controlled by the dealers, and they did not renew his license. >> i have been trying to renew my market license for four months now. three months ago, they told me that the chairman was not available. now, the city manager who is responsible for the stand is not around, either. and that is the way it goes. i have been waiting for an answer for months in vain. >> with dealers controlling access to the weekly markets, direct sales are important for

many farmers. it says he will continue as long as he can. >> i have to. i hope my son will be able to help me. i cannot live on a 500-euro pension. >> he allows itself a short break before he heads off to the next direct selling point in the nearby town -- he allows himself a short break. >> highways of our roads were you can drive at high speed in theory. in real life, at 7:00 in the morning, you are likely to be stuck in traffic jam in any busy city in any country around europe. reason -- many people commute to work at the same time. a dutch initiative now rewards people who hit the road a little later. >> over the last few months, this man is become an early morning visitor to this studio. he has opted to pump iron rather than go bumper-to-bumper in yet

another death stratagem. >> if you set out early, you cannot even call people because they are not in their offices yet. if you stick to the usual routine, the first few hours are just wasted time. >> the new routine is paying off already. commuters can get that up to 150 euros a month by avoiding the rush hour. they just have to register their cars number plates. cameras scan the traffic to see who is on the road and win. if ron drives that peak time, then his bonus is cut. >> at first i felt like i was under surveillance. i thought -- where has my privacy gone with all these cameras everywhere constantly watching me? but then i thought, i have nothing to hide, and there is hardly any privacy left anyway.

>> the authorities say the recorded traffic data are deleted after two months, and they confirm that these days, almost everybody leaves a clear electronic trail. >> whenever i use a highway or make a call on my mobile, anyone can see where i've been and at what time. big brother has been watching you for a long time already. but we stick closely to the data protection laws of our country. >> this is one of five dutch towns trying to reduce road traffic this way. it has cost them some 50 million euros in the last year-and-a- half. that may sound like a lot of money, but it is cheaper than building new roads. >> it is an experiment. we are looking for a mechanism for changing people's behavior so we have fewer traffic jams in our region. >> the project has met with

initial success, but the fear now is that with clear roads, people will be more likely to go back to their old driving habits and blocked everything up again. of all the economists say a car toll is a better solution, but it has been politically unrealistic so far. do we want to pay more for driving to work in the rush hour? well, we do in other cases like when holiday homes cost more in the season. so we can pay more to drive at peak times. them at a toll is probably inevitable as the state cannot keep being so generous to drivers. the project ends soon, but he does not mind. his firm now has flexible working hours. >> as an employer, i have seen the advantages it brings. people are more motivated and work more efficiently, and that is good for the company. >> ron will stick to his new

routine, even when the bonuses dry up. more sports and working from home, more time for his family and less time for traffic jams. >> on first glance, it looks like a true win-win situation. the concept of multigenerational living is gaining in popularity across europe. in paris where rents are expensive, an agency matches young people looking for cheaper accommodation with elderly people who do not want to be living alone, but, of course, any living arrangement comes with its very own challenges. >> he channel surfs while she leafs through the tv guide the old-fashioned way. they may be two generations apart, but they get along famously. >> she tells me about things that i have never heard of before. actors or films.

and i talk about what young people are up to these days -- rap music, things like that. i tell her about my hobbies and what kids are into right now. schering an apartment is very rewarding for both of us. am i don't know much about sen ago, so i always learned a lot whenever he talks about home -- i do not know much about senegal. and he is very interesting. and he came to paris a few years ago to study law. now he lives in monique's house and does the housework, but it does not feel like he is being taken advantage of. it is what he signed up for. in exchange for housekeeping, he lives rent-free under her roof, the seventh student to do so. the only downside is that her house is somewhat off the beaten

track. it takes assan two hours to commute to law school. nearly 180,000 students a year come to paris to attend university. housing is scarce and expensive. those who cannot find a place to stay may end up here. this is a housing agency that serves as a go-between for multigenerational cohousing of arrangements. not all of the arrangements go as smoothly. serra also spent a year living with a retiree. she missed her privacy and found her elder the flat rate overbearing at times, but she also gained new appreciation for her own grandmother back in italy. >> i took my grandmother somewhat for granted, and i did not really noticed how old she was getting, but now, i call

her and said her postcards more often than i did before. >> today, about 1600 students live in multigenerational housing in paris. with the rent shooting through the roof, that number is likely to rise. this rental agent is showing an apartment. it is tiny, just 20 square meters, but rents were 800 euros a month. over the past decade, rents have gone up 50%. even with part-time jobs, students can no longer afford to live here. so more and more students are showing up. often it is a mutually beneficial arrangement, but not always. she rents a room from an elderly woman who is in poor health and feels obligated to care for her, but it has turned into a full-

time job, more than she can handle. >> our idea was to bring people together who could help each other. one person gets a place to live, and the other person no longer has to live alone. ideally, they will both benefit and find it an enriching experience. maybe even go out to eat or to the theater together. >> the agency is now looking for a new room for her. the agency has a long list of pensioners who would like to join in. as services to the elderly are cut back, multigenerational cohousing is catching on, and the arrangement enables students to live in what has become one of the world's most expensive cities. >> it is hard, very hard. i have got only 300 euros a

month to live on -- a bit more. financially, that is very, very difficult. then he is lucky. he and monique are very compatible. she gains companionship and help with the household. he has an affordable place to live and enjoys her stories about how harris used to be. young and old sharing living space -- an idea whose time has come. >> that report brings us to the end of this edition of "european journal." we hope you enjoy the program and you will tune in again next week. until then, from all of us here at dw studio in brussels, thanks very much for watching.