We have federal states in Germany. It is a system that was not created to bring more participation or democracy to the regions. It was created to reassure sovereigns and other mini rulers that they would retain power when 170 years ago it was a question of creating a single nation. For this reason I see our federalism in a different light than, for example, that of the USA. There it was a federation that grew together. They were collectively guilty of the extermination of the Indians and some of the states loved slavery but otherwise they were on equal footing with each other.

Here federalism is an old-fashioned and completely outdated regionalism. It is disastrous in education policy but also in health care. We have a health minister who tries to bundle the right measures at the federal level. But whether a soccer match with 70,000 spectators takes place is not decided by the Minister of Health but by a stuffy little public health officer who is responsible for a district or a part of a city. Yesterday the health minister's collar burst (if you put it that way) because the public health officer of Berlin Köpenik, a district of the former Eastern Zone, wanted to let the soccer game Union Berlin against Bayern Munich take place. And today Frankfurt should play at home against Basel CH. Also here a small simple official wanted to enforce it against the health minister. It is a matter of many millions of euros and such small local officials are of course more likely to be bribed than a federal minister. In the end, the federal minister prevailed. But it was an embarrassing struggle.

'14 4/4 graphite grey