Dear MEL Topic Readers,
German president: New walls have gone up
27 years have already passed since Western Germany and Eastern Germany were reunited. Though overall German economy has been outperforming any other EU nations for the last decade or so, there still is a considerable gap between the former socialism regions and the western regions. Of the 80 million plus total population, only about 20% of them live in the east including Berlin. There still are significant economic disparities between the two blocks; the easterners are only at about three-quarters of the western level in terms of productivity and roughly 70% in per capita GDP. Also, only a third of eastern Germans own their homes, while in western Germany half do. Thus, people in eastern Germany seem to be less tolerant of immigrants, unhappy with the widening economic gap and looking for a change. As a result, more voters chose the party that presented most visible and tangible change than western voters.
On the nation's Day of German Unity, the president took the chance to remind the citizens that there is no option to go back to nationalism.
By the way, isn’t that the chancellor who leads Germany? Yes, but they also have an elected president whose duties are mostly ceremonial.
Enjoy reading and thinking if the world is getting more divided rather than united.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/03/europe/germany-president-speech/index.html
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