Germany’s eagle is a fat hen?

BERLIN, Germany – I was told the story that when British architect Sir Norman Foster designed the renovation of the interior of the Reichstag or the German parliament building, he also wanted to modify the eagle symbolic of Germany because, according to him, it looks like a fat hen.

Germany’s political leaders did not allow Sir Norman to do any such thing, feeling justifiably insulted by the Briton’s remarks. But they were sport enough to let Sir Norman hang his version of the eagle behind the original "fat hen" at the Reichstag session hall, a compromise that tells the Briton who calls shots even if they may concede him his right to express his opinion.

On one of East Berlin’s wide avenues leading to the famous Brendenburger gate that had been made famous by the cold war demarcation line between East and West, is a large, ugly and rundown building, that was once upon a time used by the communists as their "great hall of the people." It is now vacant and for all purposes abandoned, aside from its occasional use as a site for rock concerts.

Germans today can’t figure out whether to tear down the eyesore or leave it as it is, a symbol of what went wrong in Germany’s past. A large sign that’s lighted at night stands at the building’s rooftop that reads in big bold letters: ZWEIFEL, the German word for doubt. It might be a word that describes the current feeling of Germans on many aspects of life: doubt.

These two examples probably capture the mood of the Germans today. The transition to a unified Germany had not been easy for this nation of a little over eighty million. When the Berlin wall collapsed, the euphoria that engulfed their version of people power brought new optimism that the prosperous West Germany can spread its good life to the long oppressed East.

They were however rudely awakened to reality. After over a trillion euros in investment on the eastern side and still counting, Germans today know breaking down the hated Berlin wall was the easy part.

They are sure unity is a good thing. They are just shocked by the sticker price they are paying for it.

Maybe Sir Norman is right after all. The fat hen symbolizing prosperous West Germany is now finding the problems of unification a little tougher than they thought. They need an eagle that’s in flight rather than at rest. It should also help that Sir Norman’s version has a knowing Mona Lisa smile, to give the world a feeling of doubt, of wonder what it is up to, after eating the fat hen.

Doubt is a misleading word to describe the German mood today. While they seem to be in doubt on what is best to do next, there is no doubt they know exactly what to do to address their problems today. The lighted sign on the old communist building merely mistakes hesitation with doubt. What they doubt, however, is whether they have the nerve to take the plunge.

Should they make a second go for prosperity? Of course. Should they do it at the expense of putting aside the social compact that has so stabilized German post war society? That’s the problem. But can they afford to do nothing the face of the obvious reality, that thanks to the high cost of German labor, they have become uncompetitive in the world market?

The change must happen. The Germans are just thinking up of ways to make it least painful as possible. The high tax on petroleum products, for example, is a punishing 80 per cent of a liter of gasoline (at 1.20 euros a liter, gasoline cost the equivalent of P86 a liter) is accounted for by taxes. Most of the collections are used to beef up the social security system so that employers and workers pay less in contributions and thereby reduce cost of hiring German labor.

There is simply no turning back. The future is too important to risk doing nothing. A compromise will have to be struck with the labor unions, who will have to take a more national viewpoint. And the good news is, all Germans seem ready to adjust to the new world order as soon as their leaders start showing more leadership.

RP-German ties

There are about 40,000 Pinoys in Germany, our energetic Ambassador Minerva Jean Falcon told me, as she took time to give me a quick briefing of what’s going on here for Pinoys. Ambassador Falcon is also thick into the preparations for the celebration of the golden anniversary of Philippine-German ties. Some 50 years ago, we signed with Germany a Protocol on Trade relations, which became a symbolic instrument in establishing diplomatic ties between our two countries.

The Ambassador however, traces Philippine-German ties to Spanish colonial times when Hamburg opened a consulate in Manila in 1849, followed three years later by Bremen. We, of course, all know Dr. Jose Rizal stayed in Germany from 1886 to 1887. It was in Berlin where he published his novel Noli Me Tangere, which inspired the Philippine revolution of 1896.

In Germany, the celebrations will start next month with a series of thoughtful lectures on contemporary Philippine issues. But Ambassador Falcon already publicly announced early this year the anniversary during a violin concert at the Philippine Embassy of Justin Texon, a Filipino training at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory of Music. Another Filipino musical talent trained in Germany accompanied Texon on the piano.

There are speculations in the Filipino community here that Ate Glo will finally push through with her long awaited state visit to Germany this year to coincide with the 50 years celebration. But I guess, they will first have to figure out a viable solution to the Fraport problem that is acceptable to the Germans and in accordance with our laws. It has chilled RP-German ties.

There is the general impression among the German business sector that Fraport was unjustifiably deprived of property when we expropriated the Naia 3 terminal. The word "expropriation" simply has too much negative connotation for comfort. We are being carefully watched if we will indeed give just compensation, whatever that might mean.

In any case, we will have to do a lot of hand holding here by way of explaining why we had to take the actions we took against Piatco. They also have strong anti-corruption laws here, one that’s similar to the one of America’s, in relation to such things as bribing foreign government officials. We must, however, have convincing proof.

Luckily for us, Ambassador Falcon is a very competent lawyer who has taken steps to explain as best as she could, the Philippine government position. The arbitration cases are moving too slowly for our needs. A diplomatic solution should perhaps be brokered with the help of the German foreign ministry.

High tech artifacts

Dr. Ricky Soler texted me this joke.

In the year 3000, American archeologists dug 100 meters at an

American site and found copper wires. They concluded Americans had telephones a thousand years ago.

Not to be out done, German archeologists dug 200 meters and found optical fibers. They concluded Germans had digital phones 1000 years ahead of Americans.

Filipino archeologists found nothing after digging 500 meters. So they concluded Filipinos were using wireless 5000 years ahead of everybody else.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]