GERMANY: Exactly 14 years after East and West Germany unified to cries of "We are one people", only one in five Germans still agrees.
A cloud of gloom, pessimism and angst hung over celebrations yesterday to mark German unification in 1990.
The President, Mr Horst Köhler, made a desperate appeal for Germans to "test your strength, make the best of your talents and do it to strengthen our solidarity".
But solidarity appears to be in short supply: more than three-quarters of Germans believe their country is still economically and emotionally divided.
And a survey last month showed that one in five Germans wanted the Berlin Wall rebuilt.
"Why shouldn't we be happy?" asked Mr Köhler to a muted reception at unification celebrations in the eastern city of Erfurt, where unemployment is nearly twice the 10 per cent national average.
The cool response might have to do with Mr Köhler's remark recently that easterners should get used to being Germany's poor relations.
Yesterday he went after westerners for their "self-satisfaction" and "regulatory zeal".
He said the most important task was to get people back to work and called for greater acceptance of unpopular economic reforms.
Yesterday the foreign minister during unification, Dr Hans-Dietrich Genscher, wrote in a newspaper column: "Naturally there is a lot of criticism but no one wants East Germany back."