We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration. Police and law officials raided bordellos under suspicion of social security fraud, among others. They have been trying to stop the flat-rate fee system in brothels, arguing that it violates prostitutes' dignity.
While the global recession has hit the financial sector, the export industry and car companies, it has also been felt in the world's oldest business sector - prostitution. Brothels across Germany have seen their client numbers dwindle. Since they are not at the top of the list for a government bailout, they are having to look for other ways to battle the downturn.
One such way which has made headlines in Germany is the "flat-rate" fee system, offered by at least four brothels in Germany, where prostitution in legal. But the new discount scheme has triggered a wave of protests, especially in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Authorities there are now trying to shut down the brothels, arguing the new pricing plan violates the human dignity of the women working there. Baden-Wuerttemberg Justice Minister Ulrich Goll told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that there was a strong enough legal justification for police and authorities to intervene.
Baden-Wuerttemberg Interior Minister Heribert Rech, who has led a campaign against one particular brothel, said the "price suggests women there are being exploited. On Sunday, police and justice officials searched brothels using the plan in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Schoenefeld near Berlin and Wuppertal. They say they suspect the bordells of social security fraud, employing foreign prostitutes without permission and not maintaining hygiene standards.
