25 years is a very short time to rebuild a collapsed economy. We still pay for the East. Unemployment in the East is still high. We pay for pensions. There is p

25 years is a very short time to rebuild a collapsed economy. We still pay for the East. Unemployment in the East is still high. We pay for pensions. There is payment between the German states, called 'Länderfinanzausgleich'. Not one eastern state in Germany ever has paid any money into it. There is some improvement in their financial situation, but it is far from self-sufficient.