Prostitution
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18 October 20113Sega Sofia
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Interview
Saviano: Mafia has conquered Balkans
11 March 20112Foreign Policy România Bucarest -
18 January 2011PresseuropCorriere della Sera
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European of the Week
Iana Matei, against human trafficking
3 February 2010Adevărul Bucharest -
Romania
Top exporter of call girls
19 January 20101PresseuropEvenimentul zilei -
Spain
The blight on Barcelona
4 November 2009Le Monde Paris -
29 October 20091Evenimentul zilei Bucharest
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PROSTITUTION
Czechs turn off the red light
21 July 2009Mladá Fronta DNES Prague
Rendered desperate by poverty and a lack of secure employment, a large number of young women yield to the siren call of recruiters who make use of bogus offers of training and temporary jobs to lure them into prostitution. 
The Italian Mafia has succeeded in colonising the Balkans and Eastern Europe, announces Roberto Saviano, the author of the novel Gomorrah. In Romania, it manages prostitution networks, which are also linked to drug trafficking and money laundering. 
Designated "European of the year 2010" by Reader's Digest for rescuing 420 women from forced prostitution, Iana Matei manages a centre where the victims of human trafficking are given a chance to rebuild their lives. 
Over the past 20 years the Catalan capital has been building up its image as a rich, modern, dynamic city where the living is good. But there are limits to what urban marketing can do, and several recent scandals have tarnished this glowing reputation, much to the local authorities’ dismay. 
Although widespread in Romania and a staple of the country’s economy, prostitution remains illegal there. Its legalisation, currently contemplated by the authorities, might cause some unanticipated quandaries, observes Evenimentul Zilei. 
Brothels on the Czech border are disappearing. Their customers, mostly Germans and Austrians also hard hit by the recession, are not coming round any more, writes MF DNES. But there is another reason for the slump: EU enlargement, with sex workers of Romanian or Bulgarian origin now able to travel freely throughout Europe.