Eastern German economy two-decade lagged behind West

The report noted that right-wing extremism and unemployment are the biggest problems in Eastern Germany. The annual report on the economic development of Eastern Germany, presented by German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, warned that the presence of right-wing extremist parties was growing in eastern Germany’s regional parliaments and could have implications for the economy. “Such tendencies are capable of negatively influencing the further development of the new [German] states,” wrote the report.

The report said extreme right-wing parties had received mandates in regional parliaments as a result of a lack of democratic convictions and extreme right-wing beliefs which stemmed from a lack of democratic experience and not adequately facing up to German history. Extreme right-wing parties are represented in the state legislatures of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, which are all in Germany’s east, as well as in Bremen, in western Germany. “It is, however, clear to the majority of the people in eastern Germany that the new states can only successfully pursue the pertinent economic and social route as a cosmopolitan and tolerant region,” the report said. (people.com.cn)