Good news or “adulation”? A new report on the state of German unity provides a contradiction, even before it is published. The paper lists progress – but it also contains alarming Figures.
Tons of heavy engine component: work to a Stator in the Pamo-repair plant in Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt (archive image)
The economic power of the East German länder has increased from 43 percent in 1990 to 75 per cent of the West German level in 2018, it says according to media in the annual report on the state of German unity. This corresponds to almost the average of the European Union. The Newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND) to quote from the unpublished paper.
Mechatronics of the rmw cable systems in Crossen, in the Thuringian Saale-holzland-Kreis (archive image)
A better image is, thus, in the approximation of wages, salaries, and the disposable income of private households. Here, the East German value of which is now at 85 percent of the Western level. Taking into account the cost in Eastern States is often lower standard of living, whether the distance is even smaller.
A lot less unemployed people than in 2005
Also on the labour market is increasingly positive development, the report is to advise the Federal Cabinet on Wednesday show. In the new länder, the unemployment rate had declined disproportionately – from 18.7 per cent in 2005 to 6.4 percent in August 2019. In the West there had been during the same period, a decline of only five percentage points.
Luxury under the magnifying glass: the manufacture of Watches by Nomos in Glashütte in Saxony, the Eastern ore mountains (archive image)
The one negative is the out-migration of mainly young, well qualified staff and the strong decline in the birth rate at the beginning of the 1990s, however, had an. The shortage of skilled workers in Eastern Germany waxes: “migration Of labour from abroad, the West benefited so far more than the East of Germany”, – quotes the RND from the paper.
The government will report a positive assessment of the developments since 1989: “The of Germany to grow and the approximation of the conditions of life have since come a long way.” It is a matter of political questions, was in the new countries, however, dissatisfaction is palpable. “So, 57 percent of East Germans as second-class citizens feel, according to a recent Federal government survey conducted”, – stated in the Cabinet submission.
Reunification failed?
“The reunification of hold only about 38 percent of the respondents in the East as a success.” In people under 40 years, there were only around 20 percent. Almost half of the people in the East was more likely to be dissatisfied with the way democracy works.
Luxury sub-robot arms: Porsche factory in Leipzig (archive image)
The Chairman of the left group in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, said the annual report on the state of German unity as the “adulation”. Of course, much has been made of East and West German, said Bartsch the RND-Newspapers. But after 30 years, East Germans continue to be longer would have to work, and less money would not be acceptable. “Much remains to be done.”
The group leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt said the RND, the “worrying” levels of democracy in the East of Germany also fell on the failures of the Federal government: “people in suspended regions trust any state that has forgotten apparently.”
jj/hf (afp, rnd)