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Trade unions in Germany have a history reaching back to the German revolution in 1848, and still play an important role in the German economy and society. In 1875 the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which is one of the biggest political parties in Germany, supported the forming of unions in Germany. [ 61 ]
The Franco-German friendship became the basis for the political integration of Western Europe in the European Union. In 1998–1999, Germany was one of the founding countries of the eurozone. Germany remains one of the economic powerhouses of Europe, contributing about 1/4 of the eurozone's annual gross domestic product.
The economic policies were heavily oriented toward the world market, and the export sector continued to be very strong. [12] Prosperity was pulled along by exports that reached a record of $1.7 trillion US dollars in 2011, or half of the German GDP, or nearly 8% of all of the exports in the world.
Germany is a member of the European Union and the Eurozone. Germany maintains a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad and holds relations with more than 190 countries. [28] It is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union (providing 27%) and third largest contributor to the United Nations (providing 8%).
As of 2013, Germany is the third-largest exporter and third-largest importer in the world, producing the largest trade surplus as a national economy. The German economy practically stagnated in the beginning of the 2000s. The worst growth figures were achieved in 2002 (+1.4%), in 2003 (+1.0%), and in 2005 (+1.4%). [76]
To this day, there remain vast differences between the former East Germany and West Germany (for example, in lifestyle, wealth, and political beliefs) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly. The eastern German economy has struggled since unification, and large subsidies are still transferred from west to ...
The German economic crisis is a significant downturn of Germany's economy that marked a dramatic reversal of its previous "labour market miracle" period of 2005–2019. The country, which had been considered to be Europe's economic powerhouse in prior decades, became the worst-performing major economy globally in 2023 with a 0.3% contraction, followed by minimal growth in 2024 leaning on ...
Germany, [e] officially the Federal Republic of Germany, [f] is a country in Central Europe.It lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km 2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of the European Union.