Encoding issues

Hi all,

I have got a problem with the encoding of special caracters.
My DB uses the Encoding 'LATIN1'.
I modify data like this in psql:

SET CLIENT_ENCODING = 'LATIN1';
update auftraggeber set name_de='Europäische Union';

When I access this in PHP (using this Query:
SET CLIENT_ENCODING = 'LATIN1';
select name_de from projekte.sel_auftraggeber;

I get this:

Europäische Union

Hhhm.

Is there something I miss here?
Is there a way to specify a "standard" encoding in PHP,
so that I don't have to set the encoding?

Thanks for your help,
cheers, Dani