Introduction Germany lies in central Europe. It borders France, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and it has a short coastline on the North and Baltic Seas. The northern part of the country is mostly flat. The terrain is hilly in Central and Southern Germany. The Alps run along the border with Austria. More than one quarter of the land is still under forest cover. Major rivers include Rhine in the west, …showed first 75 words of 2010 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2010 total…high rate of unemployment that accompanied transformation; as high as 40% in some regions has not dropped. The construction industry which was the backbone of growth for the first five years is sagging. Hundreds of East German firms are surviving only because of subsidies . The Eastern economy has lost its drive and estimates say it will take 20 years to catch up, and at least a generation to get over the ill feelings between the two Germanys.(12)