New Reply

Post a Reply

Thread: French-German Border Shapes More Than Territory

Title: (100 characters at most)

Content: ( 3,000 characters at most, please )

You can add emoticons below to your post by clicking them.

[quote=XIAOBAIHE,460734]source: New York Times

SÉLESTAT, France — This ancient town in the center of Alsace boasts the extraordinary Humanist Library, dating from the 15th century. But less proudly, Sélestat also has an unemployment rate of about 8 percent, much higher than towns just across the border in Germany.

Emmendingen, a German town of 27,000 that is only slightly larger than Sélestat and barely 20 miles away, has an unemployment rate of under 3 percent. Among those under 25 years of age, the unemployment rate in Sélestat is 23 percent; in Emmendingen, it is 7 percent.

The divergent economic circumstances of these two towns are striking, particularly given the cross-border cultural ties in the region. The reasons for the disparities, much debated, have emerged as a focal point of the French presidential campaign.

Fighting for his re-election, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has said with characteristic bluntness that the French should become more like the Germans. In a recent joint television interview with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, he raised Gallic eyebrows by mentioning the word Germany or German at least 15 times, or about once a minute.

But the issue for Mr. Sarkozy is job creation. Unemployment in France is at a 12-year high and rising. Germany’s unemployment rate, at 7.4 percent, is at its lowest point since reunification in 1991.

[/quote]

characters left

Name:

Get a new code