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The End of Angst? Prosperous Germans in No Mood for Change

Reuters, September 12, 2013

EICHSTAETT/BREMERHAVEN, Germany--The Altmuehl is Germany's slowest-flowing river and Hans Bittl, who lives along its banks in Eichstaett, sees this as a metaphor for the low-key success of his Bavarian town.

"People in Eichstaett are very cautious and don't go along with every new fashion or idea. They bide their time and see if it works," says Bittl, chief clerk at the town hall.

It is a trait the university town, whose unemployment rate of 1.3 percent is the lowest in Germany, shares with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is counting on support from such pockets of prosperity to win a third term on September 22.

The outcome of the vote and the course Europe's strongest economy steers afterwards is as important to Germany's partners as it is to those casting ballots.

With well-paid jobs making cars for Audi in nearby Ingolstadt and light-bulbs for Osram, Eichstaett is the envy of less fortunate regions.

Yet even in places like Bremerhaven, 500 km (340 miles) to the northwest, where the demise of the shipbuilding and fishing industries has spawned unemployment of 15 percent, the highest rate in the country, the mood isn't entirely bleak.

Bremerhaven is reinventing itself as a hub for offshore wind energy and luring tourists from surrounding regions to its refurbished port promenade, now dotted with hotels and museums celebrating its maritime heyday.

"We've emerged from the vale of tears," says Bremerhaven Mayor Melf Grantz. "The difficult times are behind us. People are proud of their city again."

Reality for the average German lies somewhere between the Baroque spires of Eichstaett and the container cranes that tower above the dock in Bremerhaven.

But these two centers, at opposite ends of the economic spectrum, offer clues to the national mood ahead of a federal vote that is being closely watched across Europe. Germany has been central to Europe's response to a debt crisis that began in Greece in 2009.

Germans are less worried about their jobs than they have been in years. Over the past half decade, as the economy rebounded strongly from the global financial crisis, the number of long-term unemployed in the country has tumbled 40 percent.

In Eichstaett and Bremerhaven, people say the euro zone crisis that plunged southern Europe into deep recession, has been barely noticed.

Nearly a quarter of a century since reunification and a decade after a shake-up of the welfare state, German "angst" is fading, replaced by a more confident and contented country that is less shy about trumpeting its successes.

"Germany is no longer a country of fainthearts but of people who are realistic about their problems," says Manfred Schmidt, a political scientist at Heidelberg University who presented an annual survey on the "Fears of the Germans" last week in Berlin.

It is because of this general mood, perhaps, that the election campaign has seemed so uneventful. In a prosperous country where consensus often trumps confrontation, there doesn't seem to be any room for divisive, partisan policy debates. Nor is there a strong desire for change.

"German politics may be boring, but what would we rather have? The same situation as Greece? Or America with its polarized, deadlocked parties? Or perhaps Weimar?" says Josef Joffe, publisher-editor of German weekly Die Zeit. "Rarely in their democratic history have the Germans enjoyed such good fortune."

Hans-Ulrich Wehler, the dean of German social historians, highlighted in a recent book the growing gap between rich and poor. But even he concedes that Germans are much better off than many of their western counterparts.

"The figures show rising income inequality, but this debate simply doesn't get much traction," Wehler told Reuters.

"There are very few long-term unemployed, we've had a social security net since Bismarck, pension coffers are full and a huge amount of wealth has accumulated. Everyone knows they will be taken care of. For the most part, Germans are content."

Germany is no longer the "Sick Man of Europe" as it was dubbed a decade ago. Nor is it the guilt-ridden country that once felt obliged to open its wallet to its EU partners regardless of the cost.

There is little public appetite for funding more euro zone bailouts, a YouGov survey showed last week, nor much desire for closer integration unless this would make it easier for Germany to impose budget discipline on its partners.

Yet at the same time, six in 10 Germans view the EU favorably, according to a Pew Research survey published in May. More than half say European integration has helped the country.

This may be because the crisis has barely touched them--even in Bremerhaven, which as the fourth largest container port in Europe is sensitive to the ebb and flow of global trade.

"The euro crisis has had a marginal impact," Mayor Grantz says. "Exports to other EU countries have stagnated a bit. But we can't say the crisis has really hit us. It's a little dent which is not expected to last long."

Germany's strength during the crisis has thrust it into the role of Europe's economic leader, giving it a dash of self-confidence that sits comfortably with a quiet revival in German patriotism, visible since it hosted the World Cup in 2006.

In Berlin, a modern replica of the Prussian Stadtschloss palace is rising from the ground, recalling the proud era before two horrific world wars.

Germany is even urged, by its wartime enemy Britain and long-suffering neighbor Poland among others, to take on a bolder geopolitical leadership role.

#Germany #German economy #Eichstaett #Bremerhaven #Angela Merkel