But billions of euros (dollars) spent rebuilding the east have failed to prop up the depressed region, which is plagued by high unemployment and a shrinking population.
---
The high unemployment is caused by the billions of dollars stolen from productive West Germans and paid to East Germans. If the East Germans get a job then this money is taken away from them, thus the government is paying them not to work. Same thing happened in this country until (and still does to a lesser degree) welfare reform.
The wonderful world of socialism and communism have not taught those who lived under that rule for some 60 years how to be self sufficient. They were taught how to knuckle under to the tyranny of the ruling class. They had no incentive to be better than they were, but they still had to pay their taxes, which came from the government which had to take from the workers who were paid by the government, that is why their money was worthless by the time the socialist/communist government fell. All ambition was squeezed from their being. Tyranny is a terrible plague on the human who lives under it.