BERLIN, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- German President Horst Koehler sparked controversy Monday by questioning the efforts to level living conditions in East and West Germany.
"Those who seek to level (living conditions in the East and the West), cements the framework of subsidies and burdens the next generation with unbearable debt," Koehler told the German newsmagazine Focus.
Koehler's statement drew fire from a number of East German politicians, who said the goal of improving the East's economic standing must not be abandoned.
Other politicians hailed the statement as a welcome dose of realism.
Koehler responded to the controversy by calling on observers to read the entire text of his interview, in which he praises the East and calls on politicians to take more input from Eastern residents.
At the same time, Koehler called on residents of the former East who can't find jobs they deem suitable to look elsewhere in the country, or to take the type of job that is available where they live.
