♪ >> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw's studio in brussels. life easier for working parents. why the you canadian -- when the ukraine is seeking refuge abroad. -- finish kindergarten making life easier for working parents balancing your professional and

family life can be quite a challenge, especially with a number of 9-5 jobs on the decrease. more europeans have to work shifts in hospitals, 24-hour supermarkets, or in the media, but who looks after the little ones when you have to work a night shift? your partner? mother? family friends? finland now has a solution -- an around-the-clock kindergarten. >> shall be working the evening shift today and stuffs her daughter enter her snowsuiand heads for the day care center, and all-day care center, open around-the-clock. >> my husband and i both work shifts. it is to be a regular center. it was complicated to work out who could take her, who could pick her up, and where she could spend the evening. with a 24-hour day care center, it is much easier. >> it is a big help for her husband as well. he works 16 hours a day for a

building maintenance company. it bothers him that he can spend so little time with his daughter, but he says he has no other choice. >> everything is incredibly expensive in finland. everyone has to work a lot. no one can earn enough on their own to allow their partner to stay at home. we have to pay off mortgages, so we have to keep up. >> 7% of all toddlers in finland go to 24-hour day care centers. there are eight in helsinki alone. shift workers, senior parents, -- single parents, and even the self-employed can use them. anyone who does not work regular days. >> and should the children see the days here as long, but we try very hard to create a carefree, home-like environment. time strictures do not matter that much. what is far more important to us is that the children feel at home here.

>> few people in finland would accuse these parents of neglecting their kids. two of three finnish women are employed. nearly everyone is able to afford child care. the state generously supports low-income parents. >> the demand for day care centers like this one is rising. more and more businesses are open until late. many parents work shifts, so a lot of children stay with us overnight. the 24-hour day care reflects what society really values. >> she says children who a too small have too many different care givers and stay for too long. she says babies and toddlers ought to have one personal care giver each. >> the big problem is the constantly changing care given personnel.

there is no way for the children to bond with the care givers, which is important to their development. the needs of parents and children are totally different. it might be a luxury to the parents, but the children suffer. >> children who have been with us a long time d know the peonne cokeuite well, but it is harder for children to adjust to this type of care we always ask parents what their situation is, if they really have no other options. >> this 27-year-old has no other options. she is a single parent and a nurse who works night shift at a helsinki clinic. when she does, her four-year-old son sleeps at the day care center. >> i work the night shift three or four times a month, and jasper's leads at the center. it used to be more often. the longest time he spends at the center now is 26 hours, but that is the maximum.

>> she enjoys working at the clinic and needs the night shift bonuses. but in two years, when jasper goes to school, she will have to find a different job. 24-hour care will no longer be available. >> are you looking forward to the center? >> no, he i definitely not, but he has no say. right after dinner, they head out. parents can bring their children here anytime before 10:00 p.m. when it is lights out here. >> of course, i would rather stay with my child, but i have to work. i did not like the night shift, but i have no other choice. >> jasper does not, either. he is learng to deal with the

separations and soon stops crying. jasper knows most of the children here, though he never knows who he will be spending the night with. kernite shift does not end until midday the next day. she sleeps a few hours and then goes to pick up jasper, but he is busy sledding and does not want to quit. >> it is difficult. jasper always griped when i come to pick him up. he really lets me have it. but in the end, i think we are both glad to see each other. >> jasper can go sledding again at home. this time with his mother and his best friend. tomorrow, she will bring him back to the center for another 24-hour day. >> the fate of julia continues to strain the relationship between the ukraine and the european union. former ukrainian prime minister and leading figure during the orange revolution was sentenced

to seven years in prison last october after a controversial corrtion trial. her supporters say the proceedings were politically motivated, despite the you calling for her release, another trial is opening later this month. in addition, her health is deteriorating. the situation has begun to take a toll on tymoshenko's husband. >> the group ukraine ephraim meets occasionally at the memorial. ukrainian freedom is one of many organizations ukrainians have founded in czech exile. they are students, workers, or small business owners, and they call themselves patriots. they have brought along a ukrainian flag to convey the message that their country deserves better than the current regime. >> what bothers us? a lot bothers us.

people do not care about ukraine or running the country. they are not pursuing ukraine's interest. they want to push the country back eastward into the arms of the russians. >> i tried to do my part to get people to come to the other, the active, and protest the government. including here in prague. >> about 100,000 ukrainians live in the czech republic. they are the largest foreign minority in the country, but they are inconspicuous. most came here to work jobs that the checks will not take -- the czechs will not take. many work in construction. as it happens, the st. of the politically for secured is the address of the most prominently

exiled ukrainian, alexander tymoshenko. >> i was forced to leave and seek asylum here. the current government, the authoritarian regime, is persecuting me. i did not want to provide any additional means of putting pressure on my wife. political asylum here is the only way to achieve that. >> yulia tymoshenko was twice prime minister before her successor took power and put on trial. at the end of december, 2011, she was taken to women's prison 54. she is in poor health, and a video showing heryingll in bed set off a wave of international protests. it looks as if she is finally getting proper medical attention. the west condemns her

imprisonment as politically motivated. >> they want to break yulia morally and physically. they know only too well that when she gets out of prison again, she will be the next president of ukraine. >> german chancellor angela merkel has recruited the -- repeatedly criticized the prison sentences. rather than go to prison, the former economic minister fled, becoming the first to receive political asylum in prague. his organization shares the office with alexander tymoshenko. >> we are trying everything to ensure that ukraine is not derailed from the path of european integration. ukraine wants to be part of your. >> alexander has registered his wife's party in the czech republic, but they do not want

to be seen in the same picture with him, revealing that the opposition is not united. the exiled opposition is as fragmented as ukraine itself. every day, she guides ukrainian tourists through prague. this is just one of the several jobs she holds. a typical fate for an exile. >> i want to give young people the chance to experience europe. i want an agreement to be signed that allows young people to come here to the european union, at least to study. >> maria says change is palpable in ukraine, but it is coming painfully slowly. she says she wants to do what she can to help from here in prague, but this journalist says the idea of leading the opposition from abroad is unrealistic. she says the only way to gain political influence in ukraine

is to be in the country. she says many are here for economic reasons >> it is a natural place for the ministers or the opposition to come to, but that said, they also have the businesses here. there are business interests here. and the husband of the former prime minister also has business here. >> alexander neither talks about business nor his work in the opposition. instead, he calls on the european union to act. >> the eu should stop listening. thisas been going on for more than a year. either they should protect the opposition, or they are on the side of the regime that is flirting with them. >> ukrainians and exile dream of returning to a free democratic ukraine that offers opportunity for all. they say ukraine is a rich

country and has wasted too many years. that, however, is something left unsaid. >> ukraine will be in the spotlit this sumr when it called hosts the european football championship. political squabbling in the glare of the media will tarnish the country's interests. -- when it co-host's the european football championship. children's homes run by the church or state are supposed to help kids in need and provide them with a nurturing environment, but for tens of thousands of children in europe, their time in a home was a nightmare. they were sexually and psychologically abused right up until the 1980's. it took a long tim for the children to talk about their chromatic experiences. our reporter met a group of austrian victims. >> even the radiant alpine backdrop cannot gloss over what has been shaking austria for weeks. reports of the suffering of many

children in care homes and psychiatric clinics in the past. many victims will never forget what they endured until the end of the 1970's under this woman. head of the child psychiatrist. >> she was ice cold. she did not like children. she could not relate to children at all. >> she was more like a witch. i always compared to the which in hansel and gravel. >> it was not a child. it was captivity. >> it was like in a prison camp or in the army. it was a harsh regimen. >> at the time, these women had no when they could talk to about their suffering. they were under constant surveillance and at the mercy of methods which bordered on torture. >> i was not really aware that

there was a camera watching me. i do not know -- up there on the wall was a gray box. i can remember that. >> and the loudspeakers were intense. someone was always shouting through them. "quiet." "silence." their stories to someone writing a book about childn's care homes d the metds of a doctor from a nazi family. than a typical of the children in her observation what was she did everything possible to keep the children in a state of fear. on the one hand, that was her approach to therapy. on the other, it was part of her personality. >> even worse things were uncovered. she experimented with medications, injecting the girls with an animal hormone. >> that was my specialized research aa many years ago.

it had been discovered that it could be used to suppress sexual urges. >> she was extremely catholic and received a very high people award -- papal award, and she adhered to the idea that a decent woman should be frigid. >> what happened is not an isolated case. medical experiments on chiren in austrian care homes were apparently routine. he was 16 years old when he was injected with malaria in a children's psychiatric ward in vienna. >> my fever was astonishingly high. 42 and even higher. and i had very strong pains in my limbs. actually, i had pains everywhere i and my body.

>> even today, he still does not know why he was infecte with malaria, and he still has relapses of the outbreaks of sweating typical of the disease. his lawyer has managed to acquire his medical records. >> we see a rise in a fever within three hours from 37.5 degrees to 41 degrees. the next day was without fever after medication. these were simply young people in puberty, and the sole response of t medical and care system was to treat them with malaria to break them. >> these experiments are said to have continued for years on hundreds of children and young people. even today, some practicing doctors tried to justify the medical experiments.

>> it is hard for me to understand why people now conclude that they were badly treated. i think someone should ta rsonlyith ese patients once again to hear what they experienced as so on just back then. >> the unquestioned approach back then was very different from today's. it was not that the patient was at the center of attention. the doctor decided what was good for the patient. this paternalistic system dominated until into the 1970's. >> paternalistic, authoritarian, parallels to nazi methods keep turning out -- up. it is now perfectly normal hospital, but before 1945, it was a euthanasia clinic.

more than 700 children were murdered here. despite several court proceedings, was never found guilty. after the war, he was still permitted to do research and treat children. in the 1950's, many children in care were still threatened to be sent to him. even after the defeat of the nazis, austrian care homes and psychiatric clinics were still sites of experiments and other torture for children. apparently, some even lost their lives. that my clients have made clear statements that there were deaths there. >> the crimes committed against children itheseomes are now being investigated. the people who still live with the traumatic memories are finally getting justice.

>> the french presidential election campaign is in its final weeks with the incumbent hoping to win a second term, but he is facing a strong challenge from his socialist opponent. once dismissed as bland and boring, he is calling for more solidarity with the economically disaantaged and tolerance towards minorities. with many voters still undecided, the election is expected to be close. >> would it be the modest, mild-mannered guy who would not hurt a fly? or perhaps a radical revolutionary set to rntroduce red-blooded socialism to europe? even for big-name french tv commentators, the socialist presidential candidate i often an enigma.

>> he is the most mysterious of them all. behind the smiles and friendliness, you never know what he is really thinking. >> within the socialist camp, he used to be seen as a moderate, a social democrat. but as he now takes center stage, he is showing how far to the left his heart can be. >> my true opponent has no name and no face. he never runs for office but governs nonetheless. my opponent is the finance world. >> hardly the words of a moderate social democrat. but while still leaving scope for moderation, he has at least managed to unify his party behind him. then there was the bombshell appearance on french tv. he announced spectacular plans

for a 75% tax on france's richest citizens, those earning 1 million euros or above. but he remains unperturbed by the protests he has triggered. >> he sent out a strong message to the entire left, and they were all happy with him. his only concern now is getting elected. if he manages that, you will see the pragmatic realist in him again. >> he is careful not to reveal too much about his personal life while still remaining genial. >> over there was my father's practice. that is where we lived, across the road from the butcher's. i remember my mother there. >> he grew up close to his mother, a social worker with left-wing views.

he did not have the same attachment to his father, a doctor who was stripped and politically on the far right. after military service, he completed a number of degrees, including at the prestigious ecole de nationale administration. the couple were living apart at the time of a failed presidential bid in 2007, something that was kept secret for a long time. before himself becoming a candidate, he was known for his self-deprecating manner. he had no qualms about being fed on camera by then -- the then prime minister, and even in debates with conservative upon, he was amicable rather than aggressive. he reinvented itself in 2011, losing weight to emerge with a political heavyweight image.

he explained his makeover on french tv. >> i wanted to feel better about myself, not because of the election, but i did want to be more presentable. >> the man is not easily ruffled. after being flower bombed during a campaign appearance, he kept his cool. he shrugged off the incident as an occupational hazard. >> not a global. he carried on as if nothing had happened, even though he had gotten an awful shock. >> calm, collected, and in scrutable, some would say an idl match for angela merkel. except the german chancellor has not taken kindly to his plans to amend the new fiscal contract she fought so hard for. she has reportedly been

unwilling to see him turn the campaign, a question he has a typically droll response to. >> then i will meet her later, provided the french people elect me. >> president sarkozy has recovered well and is now neck- and-neck with the ones clear ont nner. saozy has generally align himself with angela merkel during the eurozone crisis. yhe has positioned himself as a challenger to both sarkozy and the german chancellor. or at least, he appears to have. >> that report brings us to the end of this week's edition of "european journal >." ease do to and in again ne

time. until then, from all of us here in brussels, thanks for watching and good bye for now. captioned by the national captioning institute national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--