damien: hello and a very warm welcome to "focus on europe," bringing you the personal stories behind the headlines. i'm damien mcguinness. and on today's show we're focusing in particular on one of the biggest challenges facing europe today, the huge influx of refugees. austria's failure to help migrants in need. how greek and turkish cypriots are singing from the same hymn sheet. and why the party might be over for holidaymakers in barcelona. the desperate plight of refugees fleeing to safety is the biggest

humanitarian crisis facing europe today. we saw terrible scenes of chaos in hungary as thousands of people tried to scramble on to trains to austria and germany. and last week europeans were horrified by the tragic news in austria that 71 people were found dead in a lorry. the lorry was found abandoned on one of the main routes traffickers use. but despite this tragedy, austria's authorities are accused of still not doing enough to help. reporter: conditions like these have shocked many austrians. refugees sleeping out in the open, not getting enough to eat and living in poor hygiene conditions. and all of it happening right under their noses, in the austrian town of traiskirchen near the capital, vienna. the town has become synonymous with organizational and political chaos in asylum procedure. traiskirchen is home to two reception centers for refugees

in austria. the town's mayor has become one of the toughest critics of the country's approach to asylum. >> the interior ministry is directly responsible for everything that happens inside and outside of the refugee camp, including the humanitarian emergency that's occurring. i even suspect that the ministry is letting it happen intentionally. because we know how many people could be housed in austria, and no one needs to sleep out of doors. reporter: towns and cities in austria can prevent refugee shelters being set up in their communities just by stalling when it comes to granting permits. hundreds of municipalities have done this -- behaving according to the not-in-my-backyard principle. and austrian federal and state governments are unable to agree on who should take in how many refugees. that led to serious overcrowding at the refugee reception center in traiskichen.

at times, 4,000 people lived in a facility designed to house one thousand. fights broke out among the people staying there. the refugees were waiting days for medical care. in urgent cases, doctors did their best to provide treatment and medical advice through the fence. amnesty international carried out a forced inspection of the camp, something that's not happened before. >> i've worked providing advice and support for refugee camps in italy and albania. conditions allowing for significantly more human dignity were provided there with far less money. reporter: austrian municipalities simply stuck their heads in the sand. so local residents decided to organize aid themselves. they skirted the bureaucratic hassles by handing food and supplies through the fence. a tide of donations flowed from traiskirchen. the impression that politicians

had failed miserably played directly into the hands of the far-right political party, the fpö. fpö chairman heinz-christian strache has been stoking racist sentiment for years. the refugee crisis has led to surveys showing that the fpö would now be the strongest political force in austria. to ease the pressure, austria's policymakers have now signed an official accord to pay slovakia to take some of these refugees. now around 500 people who fled to traiskirchen have been moved into a building near the slovakian village of gabcikovo. damien: of course the vast majority of the refugees are on their way here to germany, an estimated 800,000 this year alone. but what sort of a welcome will they get from ordinary people here?

what i've noticed living in germany, and chatting to friends here, is that there's something very puzzling going on -- on the one hand mainstream society is very welcoming. all the germans i know think germany can and should take in refugees. but on the other hand a small minority is fervently, and at times violently, of the opposite opinion, as shown by recent neo-nazi attacks on refugee homes. some brave individuals though refuse to let themselves be intimidated. reporter: their quest for safety took them to this refugee hostel in dresden. the 30 men were on the road for months. they're from afghanistan, pakistan and syria. daniel molitor helps them get settled. the head of the shelter wants them to feel comfortable. >> i enjoy this. i don't want to give up, or do without it. i could do without the harassment. it would be nice, if that were absent from the start.

reporter: racist thugs and neo-nazis have been gathering outside the building daily since the refugees moved in. daniel films their gatherings. molitor says they're trying to intimidate them. he's received death threats himself. >> i've had two. i've been told to hang myself, or they'd like to lynch me. and that they'll get me eventually. reporter: they're also threatening him on social media. "if you keep taking like that," it says, "one day you'll be whisked off in a dark car and never seen again." the city of dresden has commissioned security guards to protect the hostel. the shelter has already been attacked several times -- it's been pelted with stones, bottles and stink-bombs.

many people who live in the neighboring buildings don't want the refugees around. one has come to complain. he wants to remain anonymous. daniel molitor listens to what he has to say. >> the french and english have national pride. ours was broken when our grandfathers lost a war and now we're the wimps who have to take in all these people. reporter: molitor keeps his cool, no matter how racist the statements get. he says dialogue is the only way to overcome racism. >> let's lower the aggression level and focus on what really matters, then we can make the best of it. reporter: the racist thugs show up outside, like they do almost every day. yahya nazari has been in germany for two months. he's keeping an eye on the other side of the street. he's afraid of the men out there. >> i like german people but these other people is really crazy. this looking, this and this.

what is this? reporter: abdulhab osmani says the thugs aren't a problem compared to the threats he faced in afghanistan. >> at last i saw that taliban is really bad, i gonna kill by taliban, i escaped out, i came to germany. now, i don't know. germany is very nice and the nazi guys are better than taliban, not like taliban. reporter: molitor wants these people fleeing war to experience peace, and he wants peace for his hostel in dresden. today they're having a party to finally relax, in spite of the resistance they experience daily. this neighbor wants to complain. she says the refugees were sitting on a flat roof, and that will wreck the roofing. reporter >> yes, wrecking the rs

a problem, that shouldn't happen. reporter: but she also says she's getting used to the foreigners and is getting acquainted with them little by little. >> we're surprised because they're relatively decent to others. reporter: security guards have to patrol to protect the party. but everyone still tries to have a good time. >> i'm 80. he's 18. we've gotten that far. reporter: molitor's enjoying the party, too, despite the intimidation. >> well, when i look outside, this is the time when they usually show up to protest us, and there's no one there, right? that's our first triumph, so

we'll keep going. thank you. reporter: carrying on, refusing to be intimidated and standing firm against racism -- it's a start. but everyone here knows that tomorrow the neo-nazis could well be back. damien: brave man. i'd love to hear your thoughts on this crisis. is europe doing enough to help refugees? or is there more that should be done. drop me a line and let me know, on twitter, email or facebook. for more than four decades the mediterranean island of cyprus has been painfully divided, torn in two, between the internationally recognised republic of cyprus in the south, and the breakaway turkish-backed territory in the north, maybe turkish-controlled -- which is recognised only by turkey. diplomatic efforts between the two sides mean that a resolution of the conflict now suddenly looks possible. but ordinary people are already finding their own path to peace. reporter: marilena paraskeva grew up within sight of the beach and the sea, but if she wanted to go swimming, she

always had to drive to other beaches farther away. she was born in deryneia in the greek part of cyprus -- right next to europe's last fortified border of this divided island. on the other side is the former tourist resort of varosha, a no-go area since 1974. >> i feel sad, i feel disappointed, and i keep asking a big question of, why? why is that? reporter: the division of cyprus shaped marilena's life but also gave it a focus and direction. for about a year, she's been working for renewal, a u.n. organization active in both parts of cyprus. its aim is to help overcome the division. in 1974, greek nationalists staged a coup in cyprus in an attempt to annex the island. in response, the turkish military occupied northern cyprus. thousands were killed and

hundreds of thousands forcibly re-settled. >> i believe that we can leave those black shadows on the side and keep the benefits out of these new developments. reporter: this is the idea behind the bi-communal choir for peace in cyprus, founded in 1997 in a step toward a common future for the island. half of its members are greek cypriots and half are turkish cypriots. they're getting ready for a concert in the city of limassol in southern cyprus. they sing in both turkish and greek -- and take time to help one another get the words right. turkish cypriot senem and her greek cypriot friend christella have heard the stories of the difficulties the choir faced in its first years. for a long time, neither

government welcomed any such unofficial gestures of reconciliation. >> i'd only ever heard positive things about the greeks from my father. that's how i was raised. so i never had any prejudices. joining this choir was a matter very close to my heart. >> ultimately, i owe my life to a turkish friend of my father's! my family was living on what's now the turkish side of the island. he was the one who saved us in 1974. reporter: in limassol, a significant police presence is there to meet them -- not everybody welcomes the bi-communal choir. there's still plenty of bad blood on both sides. peace for the island is one of the main themes the choir sings about.

>> as you can hear in our songs, it's high time there was peace between our two peoples. >> whatever may've happened in the past, we have to look forward and not lose any more time. reporter: in the turkish republic of northern cyprus, which only turkey recognises, mustafa akinci is the surprise winner of the presidential elections and he isn't losing any time, either. he's been meeting regularly with his greek-cypriot counterpart nicos anastasiades under the auspices of the united nations in an effort to put an end to the division. some progress has already been made, new border crossings and the re-opening of the ghost town varosha are in planning. there are still obstacles to be dealt with. bodies from the 1970's are still turning up -- almost every month. and many properties and houses

belonging to people driven from their homes were sold off long ago. untangling the claims won't be easy! the government of turkey also carries a great deal of weight in northern cyprus -- weight in the form of cash infusions and 30,000 turkish troops stationed on the island. ankara has described northern cyprus as its child. but young cypriots are going their own way despite all this. greek and turkish cypriots are getting together more often for shared events -- as here in famagusta on the turkish side. marilena paraskeva helped to organize it. >> i'm positive that, certain, let's say actions will take place soon, so that we can start considering the change. 41 years after the disaster, there's a new mood in cyprus.

damien: over the summer fighting in eastern ukraine has escalated, so much for the ceasefire. but the country is not only having to deal with violence in the east, but also having to tackle widespread corruption -- something which has plagued the country for decades. there are so many vested interests and powerful oligarchs and so much money involved, that dealing with corruption is far from easy. and that is true in the east, as well as in the west of ukraine. reporter: vasyl tatosh is a young ukrainian customs officer -- and an improbable symbol of hope for his country. in july, he took over the tusa checkpoint on the ukrainian-hungarian border. across the bridge is european-union territory. that's precisely what makes tusa attractive -- to smugglers. so attractive, that it cost tatosh's predecessor his job. he was accused of cooperating with the smugglers, in other words, of corruption. now it's up to tatosh to prove himself.

>> cigarettes are the most frequent contraband, headed from ukraine into the european union. the smugglers and their accomplices turn enormous profits, because cigarettes are a lot cheaper here than in the e.u. reporter: the smugglers' methods are many and cunning, says tatosh, and just a few examples are displayed on the customs office's trophy wall. often, the cigarettes are smuggled into the e.u. by the palette-full -- literally. the packs are actually hidden inside the palettes. >> we're living in the 21st century. there are all kinds of ways to smuggle things. some runners forge papers, others try to sneak goods through customs in freight shipments.

reporter: the borders of three eu member states run through the carpathian mountains in west ukraine, hungary, romania and slovakia. on one side is the comparatively well-off eu, on the other the abject poverty and youth unemployment of ukraine. the carpathians are one of ukraine's most beautiful regions. in early july, the tranquility was shattered by the sound of gunfire. in broad daylight, just a few kilometers from the border, in the town of mukacheve in the carpathians. fighters of ukraine's right sector paramilitary group opened fire and then fled into the mountains, with ukrainian security forces on their heels. these images were seen round the world. suddenly, checkpoints were popping up in west ukraine like those in the east. the media spoke of a second front opening inside the country.

sergei ratushnyak is a former mayor of the town of uzhhorod on the border to slovakia. he says the right-wing extremists are just after a bigger cut of the smuggling profits. that's what the shooting was about. he shows the camera team his country house, a former military facility. as mayor, he got to know the area and where the choice properties were. >> a truck full of contraband from ukraine to the eu costs 150,000 euros in payola -- and another 90,000 in hungary, which makes 240,000 euros in all. for that, they'll turn off the big scanner for five minutes. reporter: it's a business expense that pays off. from tusa, the cigarettes are

distributed throughout the eu. the young customs head commissioner vasyl tatosh is not discouraged. >> we'll never be able to win the fight completely -- nobody can. but we're doing everything we can to put an end to the smuggling. reporter: it's a ray of hope in ukraine, one of europe's most corrupt nations. damien: a friend came to visit me the other day in berlin and she brought a photo from 1992, when we were last in berlin together, of the brandenburg gate, standing deserted in an atmospherically empty wasteland. but when she took a photo last week, we could barely see the brandenburg gate, through all the segways and selfie-sticks. now i shouldn't get too judgemental, we're all tourists somewhere. but some cities are clearly struggling because they're just too popular, particularly barcelona, a city i've been to dozens of times. i've watched whole areas of barcelona's atmospheric old town

become a rowdy tourist hell. of course i'm there myself as a tourist, so i'm part of the problem, and can't really criticise. but residents can. reporter: it's rush hour at barcelona's harbor. like every day, several cruise ships have docked, and are disgorging hordes of tourists onto shore. a short time later, the tourists are in downtown barcelona -- like here on la rambla, the famous boulevard. barcelona is a tourist magnet. and the city is struggling to cope. about 8 million people flock here each year, a number that looks set to increase. in the market halls, there's hardly a local to be found. at the beach, it's all tourists, sunbathing in one of europe's hippest cities. many locals are feeling the strain. like here in the la barceloneta district, adjacent to the beach. manel martinez and his friends are on patrol. they've set up a district association to address a problem

in the neighborhood. many apartments here are being rented out to tourists, most of them illegally. local residents are hanging up banners in pro the activists say that soon there won't be any local people in the district. they're being pushed out, as more and more buildings are being converted to tourist accommodations. >> we've discovered that 1500 out of 8000 apartments are being used for tourists. local residents are being displaced in brutal fashion. as tourist numbers continue to rise, the neighborhood is being transformed into a party zone. non-stop action, 24 hours a day. >> a few frenchmen said it's the copacabana in europe.

everything goes, an endless fiesta. when darkness falls in barcelona, the decibel level goes up in the city's hotspots. reporter: the noise continues until the middle of the night. for the people who live here, it's almost unbearable. in la barcelonetta, the anger often spills over into spontaneous protests. the tourists want to chill out and party. the locals need their sleep. it's a recipe for conflict. the residents are calling, "drunks go home". this past june, a progressive, leftist coalition won the city council elections. they've now imposed a year-long freeze on new tourist accommodations. it's a way to get some breathing space, time to reassess.

>> we need to talk about how to reorganize tourism so that the city benefits from it. the tourists will too, because they also want a pleasant, friendly atmosphere. for the moment, thirty planned hotel projects have been put on ice, including this one on plaza catalunya. >> these kinds of hasty decisions make financers uneasy. the city isn't just losing investment, they're losing new jobs, too. reporter: it's a difficult balancing act, especially in districts like la barceloneta. activists say the huge influx of tourists is leading to dramatic changes in the social structure. this dog grooming salon is a good example. montse ortega has been running it here for years, but now she's being forced to move out.

>> it's sad, but i can't pay 1,000 euros rent on 24 square meters. it's become a common problem here. reporter: more and more often, locals are taking to the barricades. most say they aren't opposed to tourism on the whole. visitors bring money to the city. but they want tourism to be sustainable. and for now, at least, tourism in barcelona seems to be out of control. damien: still a great city though and still a lot of undiscovered areas. well that's it for today. thanks very much for watching. do feel free to get in touch anytime with your thoughts and comments. but in the meantime, it's goodbye from me. and look forward to seeing see you next time. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

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