欧洲－德国的重新统一为欧盟扩张树立榜样

German Reunification Provides Lessons for

EU Expansion

In 1989, Germany removed the barbed wire that had divided the country for a near 50-year face-off during the Cold War. Optimism abounded 1 as many scholars and politicians speculated that economic, political and cultural barriers between East and West would disappear nearly as quickly as the wire fences. The government invested large sums of money -- more than 1.5 trillion euros to date -- and every working West German paid a new solidarity 2 tax to help finance the endeavor.

Michael Werz: It was a mistake to believe that if one invests enough money that finally these two societies would somehow get used to each other and would be economically productive again. That has not been the case.

That’s Michael Werz, a political professor at the University of Hannover.

He says the dream of a unified 3 Germany remains 4 somewhat unfulfilled. Most economist 5 agree that the transfer of former West Germany's costly 6 welfare system boosted East German living standards but hurt work force competitiveness, leaving the jobless rate in some eastern cities as high as 20% and many young people continue to leave for the West.

Professor Werz adds that a lack of incentives 7 also helped fostered today's Eastern German malaise.

Michael Werz: If you look at the German example, everything has been done or wasn’t done for the East Germans. There was a new bureaucracy and political system implemented 9 in Eastern Germany. Everybody that had no job was subsidized by the state. There were basically very limited decisions that East Germans could actually make.

Other Central Europeans have the chance to choose how to create economic and democratic structures over the last fifteen years. Many were rewarded with full European Union membership last year -- increasing the EU population by nearly a quarter to 455,000,000.

Professor Werz: The other Eastern European societies had to figure out things by themselves and with a greater degree of intellectual political, economic independence, and I think that in the long run that will serve them quite well.

Although many Central and East Europeans are optimistic about their future, not all feel welcomed by the West and some still face discrimination. Matthius Rueb, Washington bureau chief for the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, cites a positive lesson that Western EU countries could learn from German reunification.

Matthius Rueb: People from Western Germany said to their brethren in Eastern Germany: 'You make us one and full again. We've waited for you for decades and now you're here. We are so proud you're here.' The same actually would apply for Europe. Europe was as divided as Germany was. So why has there been so little talk about how proud we are that you Hungarians, Poles, Czech, Slovaks -- and later on Serbs and Croats -- that you are back in Europe?

Mr. Rueb says Western Europe should do a better job of welcoming the East.  He believes that without such enthusiasm, support for EU integration 10 will dwindle 11 on both sides of the former Iron Curtain. Many countries face looming 12 economic crises and troubled welfare systems. He says it's crucial that a united Europe believes they can face these problems together.

But Dieter Dettke, Executive Director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German political organization promoting transatlantic dialogue, says there is still strong support for integration among East Europeans.

Dieter Dettke: We would try to enlarge the European Union German-style, we would all be overwhelmed by the economic consequences of such a procedure. If you try to make it too costly, then you lose support in the old member states and that's what we can't afford.

Mr. Dettka believes EU expansion will be easier than German reunification. University Hannover Professor Michael Werz agrees but concludes that both sides of Europe must be willing to create a new set of cultural, political and economic values rather than simply grafting 14 a western model onto the East.

Dieter Dettke: It is qualitatively 15 a new situation which will change both parts of Europe -- the eastern part, but the western part as well. And people have to be open-minded on both sides of the former wall.

While the newest 10 EU member states such as Hungary, Poland and Slovenia continue to adjust and work through membership growing pains, other future candidates including Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, will try to learn lessons from them.

For Focus, this is Brent Hurd.

注释：

barbed wire 带刺铁丝网

speculate [5spekju7leit] vi. 推测，思索

welfare [5welfZE] n. 福利

malaise [mA5leiz] n. 不快，不舒服

bureaucracy [bjuE5rCkrEsi] n. 官僚机构

implement 8 [5implimEnt] vt. 贯彻，实行

subsidize [5sQbsidaiz] v. 资助，津贴

discrimination [dis7krimi5neiFEn] n. 歧视

Hungarian [hQN5^ZEriEn] n. 匈牙利人

Slovak [5slEuvAk] n. 斯洛伐克人

dwindle [5dwindl] v. 缩小

consequence [5kCnsikwEns] n. 结果

graft 13 [^rB:ft] n. 嫁接，移植