Thousands are emigrating from Germany, one of Europe’s strongest economies, to seek opportunities elsewhere, citing “no safety for the future” and overcomplicated business legislation as the reasons behind their decision.
Some 130,000 people – the most in a generation – left Germany in
2012, RT’s Peter Oliver reported.
Recent government data has shown that unemployment in Germany
climbed by 21,000 in May – four times more than economists forecast. At
the end of May, the Federal Labor Office published unemployment
statistics showing that 2.96 million Germans (3 percent of the
country’s population) are currently jobless.
This, combined with mounting economic problems, has forced some
Germans to look for career opportunities elsewhere, with
Switzerland, the US, Australia and Canada among the top
destinations.
Business owner Jens Blecker and his family have chosen to leave
Germany for Canada; he will also be relocating his €2 million
business.
“Germany is a nice place but right now the future looks really
dark, so we are getting out,” Blecker said. “All they are doing
is taking the debt higher and higher, and breaking their own
rules. Look at the laws prohibiting bailouts, as soon as it
suited them politically this just went out of the window. As a
business man there's no safety for the future.”
A Bavarian lawyer identified as Dr. Roth is moving to New
Zealand. He slammed Germany’s current economic system for its
bureaucracy.
“Look at the ten commandments, there are probably around 500
words there,” Roth said. “Then look at the regulations on
something small, like producing candy in the EU, it's over 10,000
words, most of them nonsense. This will leave Europe like a
banana republic with so many laws no one can follow them.”
Reports from Moody’s Investors Service have reaffirmed this
gloomy outlook: In April, Moody’s predicted that Germany’s gross
domestic product (GDP) would only grow 0.4 percent in 2013.
Germany’s economic growth declined to 0.7 percent in 2012, down
from 3.0 percent in 2011.
Economists say that the country has begun to feel the pinch of
the eurozone debt crisis, which has devastated the European Union
since 2009.
Germany is considered one of strongest economies in Europe.
However, in 2012 its GDP declined more than other member-states
such as the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Sweden, according
to Eurostat.