>> hello and welcome to "european journal" coming to you from the dw studios in brussels. the left party candidate in the european elections. the controversial program and preservation efforts. reality check. what it means to be russian in kiev. the european the lection campaign has ended its critical

period. 400 million europeans will go to the polls to elect a new parliament and the next president of the commission. but there is a problem. many europeans mistrust the e.u. and its politicians. in southern europe, many blame brussels for the economic hardship they are going through. greece's opposition leader is trying to capitalize on that sentiment rate as the left party candidate for commission president, he is trying to win support from all those who say enough is enough. >> in the market square of the little town, the stages ready for the arrival of the socialist opposition leader. the area is buzzing with people who are fed up with the established parties. >> if the prime minister and his people win, it will have a worse effect on europe. he's a young man and we have high hopes for him. >> people should give him a

chance. they will see if things go uphill or downhill for us. >> when he finally takes to the stage, he receives a hero's welcome. the young politician is charismatic but unapproachable. he has been entered into the race for the european commission and we have lined up an interview, but he is focused on other things. in his speech, he lists europe's flaws, sharply criticizing the austerity measures imposed on his country. he describes the consequences as a social holocaust and angela merkel as his main opponent. he refers to the german chancellor eight times and warns of the german europe. there is no mention of specific election goals and there is no interview. we followed him to athens where there is little sign of the battle for power in brussels.

many greeks blamed the e.u. for the isery and their country. he promises to throw the imf, the world bank, and e.u. financial backers out of the country. but then what? >> it is not enough. >> he will give --she will give them her vote. the university lecturer and mother of two has been out of work for two years. she believes he is the only one who dares to challenge those responsible for the current crisis. >> i believe in europe. i want to change europe. i want to change the way of thinking and move it towards the people and less towards the companies and banks and everything. i think giving the vote to more

leftist parties, we will give a new era to europe. >> is anti-german campaign can be felt in unexpected ways, like from this election helper. >> the german channel. >> he plans on running in the next parliament reelection in 2016 with hopes of becoming prime minister. the polls put him neck and neck with the current head of government. critics believe he would form a coalition with right-leaning parties if it got him into power. >> he is doubtless politically talented. he has increased the party's following from three to more than 20%. but i think his populism and opportunism work against him. >> this promotional film is

testimony to the statesmanlike way in which cheaper treys himself abroad, although he is known to shy away from media attention. we are still waiting for our interview and we follow him to pack athens theater. his speech is broadcast live on television. it is another critique of the neoliberal politics he says have spilled greek blood and caused great pain -- greek pain. he points to the 30% unemployment rate and says europe needs a new deal in the form of justice. after his speech, he takes questions. we asked what he would change as president of the european commission. >> i will try to ask for a european summit for the public debt, for the european periphery, in the model of the mandate of 1953. they decided to cancel 60% of

the public debts of germany after the second world war. the main victim of austerity measures is democracy itself. >> then he goes on his way. the candidate for the european left-wing whose real goal is to become the next prime minister of greece. >> anti-e.u. sentiment is also popular in britain. the right-wing wing party has seen a surge in popularity in. this is due in large part to its platform including calls for the u.k. to exit the block entirely. the latest polls suggest it could emerge as the strongest party in the european elections. a group of conservative parliamentarians wants to prevent that under the slogan "fresh start," their critical of the e.u., but don't want to see britain to leave it.

they suggest reform. we caught up with a cofounder of fresh start and his constituency to learn more. >> it is one of the most rural regions in britain. those who live here would also say it is one of the most beautiful. tourism is big business as is agriculture. but most locals have little support for the e.u. >> we don't have the freedom we should have. too many rules. >> they have brought all these regulations and things. it has gone downhill farming in this country since we have been in the e.u. >> it has brought benefits. but more legislation leads to more control on the size of europe. >> the conservative has his work cut out for him try to persuade ordinary folk of the benefits of the e.u. today he's in a small town where local farmers come to stock up on groceries. >> i'm trying to bring across my

party is committed to this referendum on the e.u. since they will have their say. and also to make the case that not just in britain but across the union people want less integration. they want to take these words away about ever closer union. >> a yes to e.u. membership but with fewer strings attached. >> some of it does not need to be done in brussels. there could be more decisions made in london. >> despite the promise of reform, many reject the e.u. out of hand. >> we are going to do a number of reforms before the referendum to make europe more transparent, bringing more power back to local parliament. >> has the european market worked for us? people say if we leave it, we are going to be stumbling alone. i have not thought of.. it that way, to be honest. >> there are hopes the program

will stem the popularity of the right wing. what is more, he is trying to get other e.u. members to see the benefit in reforms. >> i want brussels to stop its mission creep. the resort is this visible -- principal that we need to return to. we need to give national parliaments more power to come together and block daft proposals from the commission. >> he already has a lot of local businesses on his side. william whitaker is a chocolate manufacturer who employs large numbers of seasonal workers from poland and romania. the e.u. has enabled him to increase production. >> we need a flexible labor force because we were different shift patterns throughout the year. there are many people who might join us in april or may, work until christmas, and then go

back to their double so origin and come back two or three months later. that is flexible for us. it is what we need. >> this manner house has been in his family for 31 generations. he rents out a part of his property to small businesses. he is not a fan of e.u. bureaucracy, but he understands the bandages of the union. >> stability and peace. that connects generations for the future. powerfully sitting together to avoid war. peace is more difficult to achieve than war. that is personally above the enterprise, i think that is really important. >> for most people in north yorkshire, one thing takes precedence. julian smith attends the opening of a new village shop, which is fitting given he campaigns on

an economic platform. >> in a global world, when we are up against the real competition, china, the rising east, south america, being together in this club does work in britain's interest. we have to make that case. >> he will have to employ all of his powers of persuasion because the reforms he is promising first have to be sanctioned by all number states in brussels. year when the copenhagen zoo killed a healthy giraffe in front of visitors. it was then dissected and fed to the lions. the case made headlines all over the world. the zoo had only chosen to do in public what is common practice but usually done behind closed doors. in switzerland, employees told us this type of selection is necessary, however controversial that may be. >> in the zoo in switzerland, he

is something of a surrogate father. he has raised lots of bears, but they were supposed to raise their own offspring. not a good idea. he caused the death of one of the cubs, probably out of jealousy. >> we lost one because he mauled it to death. we lost the second because misha played too roughly with it. we had to put it down to prevent it from suffering. >> animal lovers protested against the decision to put down a healthy animal. but the zoo stood its ground. there was no alternative since having the cub raised by hand in another zoo was not an option. >> we tried a number of times to

separate them. but it was too stressful for all concerned. >> the director of the zoo decided not to keep the bear cub's fate a secret. >> the more discussion forums, newspaper articles, and television segments, the more attention is focused on the relations between animals and people, the more rational those relations will be. we can't treat all bears as though they were cute little teddy bears. >> but many visitors only want to be entertained. that is why they love the small monkeys and particularly bears. the bear has been the heraldic animal for centuries. animal rights activists say the bottom line is money.

>> they breed bears because they have a special significance here. they attract visitors to the zoo. we are talking about profits. >> that is an accusation that has also been leveled at copenhagen zoo, which killed a healthy giraffe and cut it apart in front of an audience. its genes were unsuitable for breeding. around 1/5 of the meat fed here comes from slaughtered animals. he defends the practice. >> slaughtering animals to manage breeding is sensible and rational. if you are trained to prevent the gene pool from getting too small, which endangers further breeding, which may be necessary to save a species like bison. with a too small pool, animals

are born with effects because of. >> thanks to breeding ensues, europe now has wild bison. they all came from the same original 12 animals. the situation is different with the bears, say the activists. they are not an endangered species. >> one alternative would have been to prevent the situation. they could have sterilized it so it would not have offspring. not sterilizing it was a terrible decision. >> the zoo has seen the logic of that argument, and they are going to sterilize misha so there is no chance he can harm future offspring. >> immigration is still a hot topic in europe. some politicians are trying to win voter support in the upcoming elections with

anti-immigration slogans, accusing foreigners of stealing jobs. but in many places, though slogans do not work. spain is still hard hit by the economic crisis. hundreds of thousands are still unemployed. when we went on the hunt for an example of successful integration, we found it in a spanish town. >> ♪ >> at this orthodox church, most of the congregation are romanian. the population of 90,000, nearly one in five people here is romanian. the service is a slice of home for them. the church and a former factories is a meeting point for the community. many of the people here came to spain during the real estate boom. there were plenty of construction jobs. the pay was good. >> the spaniards welcomed us

with open arms. romania at the time was doing badly. we came to work, to build a future. something not possible in romania at the time. >> she has been in spain 17 years. she began cleaning homes, then cared for sick people, and workaday hairdressers --and then worked at a hairdresser's. she opened her own shop. along with her husband, she now runs several shops. they have a wholesale business selling products from armenia -- romania and this bakery. >> i came here with very little money. now after so many years, we have managed to set up something. there are jobs here. not just for me but for a total of 30 people. >> when some people today speak

badly of romanians, they are not telling the truth. all romanians who have left their country want to work. >> people like him. last year, he worked for a few weeks on a construction site in spain. he has been back for two weeks. he plans to stay. >> despite the crisis, you have more opportunities here than back home. everything is better organized than in romania. i need to learn spanish. probably in one and a half months, although it may not be perfect. >> that sounds ambitious, but it is possible. romanian is a romance language. it makes it easier for romanians

to learn spanish and adapt more easily to living in spain. >> they say we are like siblings. we have a similar mentality. it goes well together. >> you can see proof of that in the school in the neighborhood. half of the children are from armenia. it is difficult to see the difference between them and their spanish counterparts. >> the children are totally assimilated in society. they feel romania because those are their roots. they also equally feel spanish. they are completely bilingual. they have no problems making friends. >> spain is also home to poor romanians, including the roma. but their plight is not discussed much. spanish laws make it hard for

freshly arrived foreigners to receive government assistance. >> there are romanians who have worked and now receive aid. but we cannot say the romanians are abusing the social welfare system. >> romanians often rely on their own families. even if they are unemployed, someone in the family has to find a job like in the kitchen of the romanian restaurant here. the owner has been through tough times. >> business used to be good. the crisis has made things difficult for us. >> he had five restaurants. now he is down to one and says they are surviving rather than living. but he does not plan to give up. he adds romanians are in spain to work, not to live off of others. >> ukrainians are supposed to

elect a new president in just over a week. but whether or not that will happen is far from clear. in the troubled east, many groups have said they don't see themselves as ukrainians anymore and want to join russia. in the capital, people have been trying to return to normality. but since the conflict began, the question, where do i belong?, has become a difficult one to answer for many. >> she is russian but moved to kiev a couple of years ago. he is from eastern ukraine. ukrainian-russian relations could hardly be any worse right now. does political conflict create familiar strife -- the meal deal -- familial strife? >> we have our differences if you want to find them. but we also have lots in common.

>> when i moved here and married him, no one talked about who was ukrainian and who was russian. now the russian government is pursuing an aggressive policy towards ukraine. that has effects on family relationships. >> ♪ >> she does volunteer work in kiev. she's pasting and scanning 40 bags full of shredded files that allegedly document the corruption of the deposed government. a computer will be used to restore them. >> i used to think this country

was crazy. we all thought you can't change anything. >> we were kept down in all areas of life. i hope my youngest daughter and granddaughter would leave the country. now i am so proud of the young people who turned out to demonstrate. they gave me hope this country can be reborn. >> the battles between authorities and protesters in kiev are over. she experienced them firsthand and says she now feels more ukrainian than russian. >> i find it totally insulting when my russian friends and parents say the people in the square were fascists and criminals. i think the people who stood here were the best and brightest. i always said, thank you for

sticking up for us. we sit on our comfortable sofas, go to work, and walked past year, and you are prepared to die for us, which some of them did. >> ♪ >> now that the protests are over, people in kiev are trying

to resume their normal routines. she made me rush in and he ukrainian, but the political conflict has not driven them apart. quite the contrary. >> when the protests started, she was six months pregnant. she was already showing. it was dangerous to be there. moments like that make you realize what is important and what is not. you start thinking about your family and children. >> he says thinking about his future and the future of his children gave him the strength to stand up for the future of ukraine. >> ♪ >> that report wraps up this

edition of "european journal." until next time, thank you for watching. bye for now. >> ♪ w?q?q?q?q?q?gg99ññwçça7guc

05/22/14 05/22/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! what we see proceeding here and which is very disturbing is experimentation on human subjects. i think that is essentially what it is. ande are not time-tested vetted methods. >> a new state halt execution of russell bucklew. we will speak with his lawyer about the case and the ongoing