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内容記述 |
On October 3, 2000 Germany celebrated the tenth anniversary of Unificatin. However, the euphoria of ten years ago has largely disappered. The German people are worried about many serious problems that still their country : political and social discrimantion, the economic gap between east and west, and the problems caused by radical political groups have caused much concern : their situation after Unification is much changed from ten years ago. Specifically, the political situation is much different from that of ten years ago. First, the capital was moved from the provincial town of Bonn to the world city of Berlin. Second, the Kohl, who was Chancellor during Unification, lost the general election in 1998. Political power then shifted to the Social Democrats (the SPD) and its leader Gerhard Schroder, the Federal Chancellor, and their coalition party, the Greens. Kohl himself is now embroiled in a scandal involving irregal poltitical contributions to his party. Thus, he has lost almost all his political power. In addition to economic problems, there exists the psychological gap between the former East Germany and West Germany. They stand far apart from the ideal of the ein Volk (one people). The fall of the Berlin Wall in authumn 1989 brought not only German unification in the following year, but also changed profoundly the political landscape Europe and the world. The worldwide antagonism that existed during the Cold War has now largely disappeared. The eleven member states of the EU, including Germany, introduced their common currency, the Euro, on Jaunary 1, 1999 ; this is a large-scale undertaking that will decisively influence their economic future and that of many nations. This step has been further accelerated by German unification. However, in other parts of the world a number of conflikts are still continuing to arise from economic, racial, religious and ethnic differences. Furthermore, the expected benefits of the reconciliation between east and west have yet to appear ; the end of the cold war has not brought peace to the former areas of communism and capitalism. It will be interesting to see what develops in the comming century as a result of the past ten years of German unification. |
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