The Germanys The Honeymoon Is Over

By Guy D. Garcia

Like two lovers confronted by the practical realities of marriage, East and West Germany are having a bout of prenuptial nerves. Though the two countries will not formally tie the knot until Oct. 3 -- the earliest practicable date -- the euphoria of unification has given way to a summer of unemployment, rising prices and political disillusionment. Both sides remain firmly committed to the merger, but East Germans have begun to fret over the economic disintegration of their country and West Germans worry about the price of preventing it.

The growing discontent in the East was manifest last week when more than 45,000 municipal workers in East Berlin, Magdeburg, Chemnitz and other cities staged two-hour "warning strikes" to support calls for higher pay, job security and preferential tax treatment in a united Germany. For the second time in two weeks, public transportation was crippled and garbage trucks blocked the entrances of department stores, as bus drivers joined sanitation workers, nurses and secretaries for rallies in at least 10 cities. The demonstrators complain that their salaries, which average about half those in the West, are not enough to cover the higher prices being charged for food and other basic items since July 1, when the West German mark became the official currency of both Germanys.

The striking workers are demanding preferential personal-tax treatment until their economy rises to Western levels. West German income taxes average about 33%, in contrast to about 5% in the East. East Germans are also angry that a flood of West German investment, which Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised during last spring's election campaign, has failed to materialize. The lack of capital, plus competition from Western products, is wiping out East German companies and farms. Unemployment reached 350,000 in August and continues to rise at a rate of 25,000 a week. The International Policy and Science Institute in East Berlin predicts that 2 million of East Germany's 8 million workers will be out of a job by the end of the year.

Some European analysts have suggested that West German investors are waiting for the East German industrial base to collapse so that they can make a fresh start, rather than prop up inefficient or outmoded businesses. East German leaders, for their part, have pointed out that however rough the transition may be, their country's economic prospects remain brighter than those of Central European nations like Poland and Czechoslovakia. "If we show courage and behave responsibly, we will be out of the woods soon," Prime Minister Lothar de Maiziere said in Halle last week.

But not all East Germans are convinced. Kohl's campaign speech to the same Halle audience was interrupted by shouts of "liar" and a hail of tomatoes and eggs hurled by a group of leftist protesters. Security guards used umbrellas to deflect the missiles, and Kohl did his best to turn the incident to his advantage. "If you want to see the result of 40 years of communist rule," he said, "just look at these hooligans with blind rage in their faces. A vote for the Communists is a vote for violence and state terror."

Despite a fundamentally strong economy, some West Germans are becoming disgruntled as well at the rising costs of unification. Bonn's budget deficit this year is expected to reach $42 billion, vs. $11.3 billion last year. The - cash drain reflects the assumption of responsibility for East German pensions, unemployment benefits and public utility subsidies and for the debt of state- owned enterprises. Within the past six weeks, stock prices have fallen 15%, partly because of the Persian Gulf crisis but mainly because of the anticipated pressures of unification. Inflation is projected to surpass 3% by the end of this year, uncomfortably high by German standards. "Nowhere between the north coast and the Alps in the south is anybody counting the days in joyous anticipation of unity," said Manfred Volkmar, a columnist for Berlin's Volksblatt. "The few weeks left are turning into a nightmare."

Some potentially divisive issues were ironed out last week when the two Germanys codified their coming unification with a 1,000-page state treaty signed in East Berlin's Palais Unter den Linden, the former residence of Prussia's crown princes. The treaty reconciled many of the disparities in law between the two governments but left for later a number of others, including abortion, which is sharply restricted in the West but still available on demand in the East. The two Germanys will keep their respective abortion regulations until a united German government can draw up a new law.

Meanwhile, the majority of Germans seem to agree that the final result of the transition is worth the trouble. In the end, the discomforts of unification are a minor price to pay for bringing an end to 45 years of division, hate and ideological confrontation.

With reporting by James O. Jackson/Bonn