The commission for German Unity has been trying to make the German tricolour flag more popular, and boost the country’s national spirit. One of the tools the commission suggested implementing to help achieve this goal included gifting German flags at school graduations - something that the government did not approve of. 

German government rejects flag proposal

The original plans proposed by the commission for German Unity involved not only the gifting of the “Schwarz-Rot-Gold” flag, but also proposed handing out an edition of German Basic Law to school graduates. 

Even though the government refused the proposal regarding flags, they have shown support for the idea of handing out a high-quality edition of the country’s basic law, subject to budget constraints. The federal government has set a budget of 800.000 Euros for this. 

German society has suffered from its turbulent past

The discussion about national unity comes just one year after the nation celebrated 30 years of reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The division of the country has created some tension in German society which has lasted up until the present day. 

Even 30 years on, the Eastern part of the country, which was formerly part of (communist) East Germany - also known as the GDR / DDR) still does not enjoy the same standards of living as Western Germany, with per capita GDP being significantly lower than in the West.