>> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal those quote coming to you from dw studios in brussels. here's what we have for you in this edition -- organ donation -- why more and more brits are saving strangers' lives. reconstruction work -- italy five years after the big earthquake. and how young artists are transforming the look of the serbian capital. some 40,000 critically ill people in europe are currently waiting for a new kidney.

patients have to wait six to seven years on average. the organs of deceased patients are in high demand, but the number of people carrying organ donation cards is quite low, and kidney donations from liing people are strictly regulated in most countries to prevent abuse. in germany, for example, patients can only receive kidneys from relatives or close friends. it is an entirely different situation in britain where every healthy person can register as a donor. since 2006, the number of volunteers has been steadily on the rise. >> this 50-year-old's children are his pride and joy. if all goes well, he will be accepted at the music conservatory. life has been good to him. he is close to his children, and his health is holding up. >> i have been privileged, and

now i can give back something. that is the sort of idea that really drove me. this is such a life-changing thing for somebody, you know? you are giving somebody a new lease of life, a new life, and if i am able to do that safely, then why not? >> he happened to see a tv report about voluntary kidney donors and could not get it out of his head. >> the more i listened, the more the idea of being able to donate a kidney to a stranger took me over. it was an idea that was landed, and i did not pay much attention to it, but i kept thinking about it. >> he had witnessed the suffering caused by kidney disease. one of his relatives had to undergo dialysis and eventually died due to lack of a donor. this family comes originally from india. people from the indian subcontinent tend to be prone to kidney problems, but there are

very few compatible donors in britain. it was one more reason for him to stand by his decision. his children supported the idea. for three years now, he has been living with only one kidney. he is still perfectly healthy, but, like all kidney donors, he has to watch his weight to reduce the risk of getting diabetes. once a gear, he goes for a follow-up exam at london's royal free hospital, which specializes in transplants. >> had a good year? >> indeed, yeah. >> kathleen is a contact person for potential donors. among them are many pensioners. age is not a factor, only the donor's own health. >> if they can get to the stage where they come in for a full day of tests, one of the tests we do is to check the kidney function, and if they kidney function is good enough, then we

will go ahead. >> ben lindsey was the surgeon who removed the kidney. >> a surgeon is always slightly anxious because we are operating on patients who do not technically need an operation. it's very different to fixing a circulation problem. physically, we can only make this person worse. >> health is not the only requirement for donating a kidney. each case is carefully vetted to prevent organ trafficking. the hospital has to obtain a special license for each transplant. >> they pass what we call an independent assessment, and that is somebody who has no interest in the process who interviews the patient and gets a feel as to whether they feel there is any coercion or any other motivations or monetary exchange implicated by the process.

that's not allowed, and they will stop the donation. >> as a rule, organ donations are anonymous. in one case, diabetes patient marion patterson wanted to know who had saved her life. she used to be constantly tired. now she has her own energy back. >> us and as i got the kidney, the energy was just there. my daughter kept saying, "slow down. slow down." >> marian waited for months for the call telling her a donor had been found. neither her partner nigel nor her daughter was eligible. now the donor has a very special place in the couple's heart. >> she is a very exceptional lady to donate such a life-changing organ. it is just fantastic. >> every year on the anniversary

of the transplant, the women get together to celebrate. >> i feel a responsibility and protective of her. yes. i feel somehow i am to take care of her now. it feels weird. it is a very special sort of relationship. >> i have a piece of somebody else's body inside mine. yes, i do take care of it. she will ask how her kidney is, and we say, "it's fine, thank you." >> they feast on burgers but stay away from alcohol. claire has stopped drinking. >> i have been given my health back. i have been given my life back through being given me help to stop drinking, and in this way,

i can give someone else a start in life, a new life. >> neither of these donors likes to talk a lot about their good deed. hardly anyone at the architecture firm has any idea what he did. >> i do not want to be seen to be like a wonderful person, look what i've done. i just take, "do you know you can do this? it's relatively safe. it took two weeks away, and giving something to someone that very few people get an opportunity to do." >> around 6000 patients in britain are still waiting for a new kidney, but voluntary donors are still few and far between. other potential donors are showing interest, but waiting lists everywhere are long. >> it's five years ago now that the earth shook in italy. more than 300 people were killed

in the earthquake which devastated the city. thousands of buildings collapsed, and 10,000 people lost their homes. it's a mere hundred kilometers away from rome, and the italian government had promised to swiftly rebuild everything, but then italy plunged into an economic crisis, and the region and the problems were forgotten. repair work has finally got underway, but things are moving very slowly. >> he takes a walk through the ruins nearly every day. >> how did you get in? cars used to be able to drive around here. now everything is closed and blocked off. >> at 78, he is one of 20 people still living here. residents lived in tents after the disaster. most of still housed in temporary accommodation. they can only move home once

reconstruction has been completed. there's little sign of that happening anytime soon. >> what are we supposed to do? nobody cares about us. none of the authorities have even taken a look around here or ask us what we want to do. i have not even organized a residence meeting. >> work is underway five kilometers away. when the earthquake struck, former prime minister silvio berlusconi insured the attack -- as should the italian people as well as u.s. president barack obama that the city would be rebuilt at top speed. even here, progress has been slow. >> five years later, hardly anything has been done. you get used to it, but it's terrible. >> you look around and wonder how it could be like this. on some level, i still have some hope, but a lot of time has passed.

>> this journalist attributes the lack of progress to two factors -- poor management and the influence of the mafia. a european union study found that some 500 million euros has been paid out to mafia-linked companies. >> it was an emergency situation, so the systems were not in place to keep out mafia-controlled companies. >> reconstruction work at the university was put on hold after two companies were accused of having mafia links. they are now being investigated for fraud. alumina no split the about mismanagement and corruption. she and her son are still living in a small apartment as temporary accommodation. >> they have promised us a lot. they say everything will be fine, that the reconstruction is going well and that money is coming in, but in reality, nothing has happened.

>> the family took shelter in a tent city right after the quake and was moved to this housing development. silvio berlusconi hailed it as a masterpiece of italian engineering when he opened it six months after the earthquake, but after only a few months, shoddy construction forced them to move again. >> the entire development was infatuated because it was too dangerous. the construction material was inferior. the work was slipshod. the bluefly, and the concrete foundations were not made properly. every time we had to move, it was like another earthquake for us. >> she had owned an apartment in one of these blocks that was heavily damaged in the quake. she is relieved that her bank has postponed her mortgage payments. many of her neighbors have had to continue paying down the mortgage is on their destroyed homes. >> up to now, there were reconstruction plans for only two of these buildings. we don't know anything about the

others. >> she is now living in this supposedly earthquake-proof development, but she is not convinced. at a nearby development, some of the pillars meant to protect against the impact of a quake already need to be changed. a local businessman who did not get the contract is pressing charges. >> of the 9600 pillars in this area, only seven or eight have been subject to random and spit -- random inspections and replaced. that's probably why there are many more broken pillars. >> an official investigation is now under way. some companies have already been convicted of fraud. a court will now have to decide whether to grant the city authority cost a man did that almost 5000 of the pillars be replaced. the city mayor has already stepped down -- twice. but since nobody was willing to

take over, he returned to the job. he accuses the national government of not inviting enough funds. >> who want to really make an exception so that in a natural disaster like this, the stability pact can be overridden. >> justino says his village is now dead. he is scared it will stay that way. there are only a handful of people left to fight for it to be rebuilt. >> the european commission further tightened anti-smoking laws this year in the face of heavy protests from the tobacco industry. cigarettes have long been banned from restaurants and other public places, and packets now come with strict health warnings, but still, some 700 house and people die in europe every year from smoking-related diseases. some countries have been lax in their interpretation of anti-smoking laws.

one in three austrians is a regular smoker, and no other country has as many regular smokers as austria. this man with cancer wants to prevent others from getting it. he has filed charges to several bar owners across the country for not doing enough to protect non-smokers. >> he is making his rounds again . he has been inspecting restaurants all over austria for years, reporting violations of laws detecting non-smokers to the authorities. today, a restaurant in vienna is his hunting grounds. we accompany the smoking sheriff, as he has been dubbed by the media. >> the entrance has no identifying sign. next-door is a store, and smokers is not allowed there either. >> of course, i could take the initiative and write an e-mail.

i guess it's high time i did that. >> he's convinced that if there were no secondhand smoke, fewer people would get cancer. >> i'm angry because every week tom a i see people in hospital beds severely ill suffering from lung cancer or throw cancer. all the people, the cancer patients, stroke patients, their families -- all the faiths that are affected. and i am angry that restaurants are not ready to implement a general ban on smoking in austria. >> austria is a relative paradise for nicotine addicts. nowhere in western europe do people smoke in public places so much and so matter-of-factly as in vienna. smoking in restaurants was banned here five months ago, but it has exceptions. it is ok -- in the hip seventh

district, they exploit some of these exceptions. guests in vienna still happily chain-smoked on these premises. the owner came here from france more than 20 years ago. since his bar is smaller than 50 square meters, he is allowed to decide for himself whether to permit smoking. he chose tobacco instead of restrictions. >> this is an austrian form of democracy. there are non-smoking places for those who do not like smoke. those who smoke and go to restaurants where it is permitted. the big taverns have separate rooms. there's no witchhunts. people are left alone, and i think that's good. >> more young people smoke in austria than in any other western -- western european country. even children have access to cigarettes. the law says they have to be 16 to buy cigarettes, but this girl simply borrows a bank card from an older person and uses it in

the vending machine. the result -- one third of all 15-year-old girls in austria smoke cigarettes. the officials at vienna's health ministry have their hands tied. they blame the tobacco and restaurant lobbies. peach says the charges have little political effect. the political parties do not want to sacrifice votes to get a complete and non-smoking. >> if the eu would pass a general ban on smoking as part of its worker protection laws, then austria would have to comply, and then, a general ban on smoking would have to be implemented in national law, to o. >> he's on the prowl again, accompanied by a viennese scientist from the institute for public health and his assistant. he checked out the restaurant a

month ago and filed charges against it for an adequate non-smoker protection. while the scientist measures the air quality, the smoking sheriff seems content this time. >> he signed here shows that there is a separate entrance directly into the non-smoking room. and that the main entrance, there's a notice, "restaurant with separate smoking room," so it's a mixed restaurant with two different rooms. >> and non-smoker protection is adhered to inside. >> if you keep going here, you come to a swinging door that closes by itself. it has a sign that there's a non-smokers room behind it. >> the scientist is disappointed, however. his measurements show the air in

the non-smoking area is twice as bad as out on the street. >> the concentration of particulate matter should be much lower than outside in heavy traffic. so the separating wall that restaurant owners are required to install is useless. tobacco smoke in the traits into the non-smoker area anyway. and a concentration that is a hazard to health. >> but the separating wall is important for the owner. without it, his whole restaurant would have to go non-smoking, and his smoking regular guest would be upset. he invested about 20,000 euros to divide his restaurant into smoking and non-smoking sections. he has a sense of humor about the loopholes in austria's non-smoker protection laws. >> the restaurant does not sell health or anything like that.

when you come here, you do not see signs saying, "become healthy and you will feel better." we sell something entirely different -- love, connection, communication and all that. >> this disparity of tobaccos danger to health makes analog are furious. he plans to remain the smoking sheriff until his goal is achieved -- a complete than on smoking in all austrian restaurants. >> serbia is in crisis, and the new government in belgrade is faced with many challenges. 15 years after the kosovo war, serbia is struggling with its difficult past, but the country has set itself an ambitious goal and wants to join the eu despite its political problems and massive budget deficit. this has also left its mark on the art and culture scene. some young artists have decided to help transform the serbian capital into a lively metropolis again. >> in serbia's capital, hard

times only seem to get harder. the city is broke, its politicians corrupt, and unemployment near 30%. many young serbs are seeking their fortunes elsewhere. ralph does not see the ruins. he sees potential for pioneering spirits. he first came here six years ago from his hometown, the hague, to get a serve-dutch cultural exchange up and running, and he fell in love with no grade. >> i think i am the most optimistic person about belgrade in belgrade. people are always complaining about their own city and this is broke and this does not work and politicians are not doing a good job. when i look at a building that is broken down or old, i see a building that can be refurbished and can be beautiful in the future. >> three years ago, he relocated

to belgrade completely and started a business organizing bicycle tors for torrents. at the top of his list of sites to see is the rundown industrial corridor with its budding arts scene and trendy pubs. >> i did not come here to become rich or to grow a very big company. i had a relatively rich life, people say, in holland, and actually, i gave it up to come here and have more fun and make more out of life than just working for money, you could say. >> but the days of this historic riverfront may be numbered. investors with billions of euros stand ready to turn it into a gleaming new upmarket development. ivan is organizer of the popular festival who is trying to prevent that. the mixer festival is a highlight of belgrade's arts calendar. this year, the organizers hope

to mobilize as many people as they can to preserve the district. >> this is a good example for the rest of belgrade. pretty raw but full of opportunities. something raw but something positive at the same time. gives space for everybody to do something, to create something. >> this german teacher also came here in search of the wild, wild east. he left his notoriously and span native switzerland two years ago and took part in several project sponsored by the good -- goethe institute aimed at promoting development. >> i really think the kind of things may be possible here that were going on in the 1980's in zürich, where i come from, because civil society has gradually taken shape and developed this grassroots spirit that says, "hey, let's take to the streets."

if the politicians will not support us, we can do it ourselves. we can take the space we need and make this city our own." >> he presents one of the projects he helped initiate -- a meet and greet of east and west over soup. artists help in the kitchen. every time, the event has a different host who fixes the soup and arranges an evening of readings, concerts, and exhibitions. >> the western europeans bring a fresh breeze in here, and we inspire each other. this location, for instance. in contrast to the conventional gallery, people here share their ideas. >> the artists hope to see more and more creative people moved to their city from all over europe in the coming years. they are working towards activating belgrade's potential.

>> what fascinates me is that the city already has a rich cultural legacy, even in terms of its art and alternative culture scene. unfortunately, it got a bit lost , but it would be great if we could reconnect to those years of cultural activity and ever city. >> serbia may have little public funding left over for the arts, but belgrade's creative spirits are taking things into their own hands to get the city's arts going at old silk -- fulltilt. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal" from brussels. until next time, auf wiedersehen

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