BERLIN : Setting The Terms
Negotiations between the two Germanys on a treaty setting terms of their Oct. 3 political union are likely to come to a head this week.
Major differences exist both between the two countries and among their major political parties over such sensitive subjects as claims to property confiscated by the previous Communist regime from West German owners, yet occupied for nearly two generations by East German families.
Abortion is another sensitive issue as negotiators try to reconcile East Germany’s abortion-on-demand law and West Germany’s near ban on the procedure, which was implemented after a convulsive public debate in the 1970s.
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