- West German regulations were imposed on the East German economy, at a time when its productivity was less than 20 % of the Western one – our trade unions insisted on that, so that East German workers couldn’t undercut Western ones at wages and geberal cost of employment are concerned.

- Monetary union – The worthless East German Mark was exchanged 1 : 1 for the West German Mark; the East Germans insisted on that: ‘If the Mark (West doesn’t come to us we’ll come to it’ (i.e all go West). And of course monetary union meant that the former export markets in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union vanished, for nobody there could afford in Western Mark.

- Dependency. It is much easier for East German politiicans to try and keep the bacon coming in, especially since the voters there insist on that, and would vote them out of office if they tried to increase competitiveness by cutting spending and costs. Poles, Czechs and Hungarians aren’t really that different, totalitarian systems always leave their mark, but there isn’t anybody paying them for doing nothing. Root hog or die.

Another factor stems right from the start of reunification: Rightwing West Germans (including members of the the West German governemnt) and former East Germans who had fled to the West, intent to stick it to the East Germans. The other Eastern Europeans had nobody to transfer money to them, but they also didn’t suffer from a ‘Western big brother’ wanting to punish them for the sin of having lived under communism.

I’ll write another post on this whole issue in the next days anyway.