This article is a bit of a tough read for people who haven't been following events in Germany. I recommend it anyway for folks interested in an overview of how reunification is going.

September 5, 2005
GERMANY'S EASTERN BURDEN

The Price of a Failed Reunification

By Stefan Berg, Steffen Winter and Andreas Wassermann

On the campaign trail, Germany's politicians are mostly silent about one of the country's most pressing problems. Former East Germany is a major liability costing the economy €100 billion annually. An eastern German report card 16 years after reunification.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...373639,00.html