LYCOS RETRIEVER 
West Germany: Western Europe
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West Germany's economy functioned very well for several decades, and the country became one of the world's wealthiest. Thanks to the strong social welfare component and the system of codetermination, which gave workers in factories some say about their management, West German industry enjoyed a long period of labor peace. The export-oriented economy received another boost with the creation of the European Economic Community by the Treaty of Rome in March 1957. West Germany was one of the EEC's founding members.
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This summer, hackers in West Germany tapped into the U.S. space agency's European computer network, peeking at files on booster rockets and shuttle contracts. One of them changed a variable in a scientist's equation from pi (3.14159265) to 7, ruining two months of research.
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In 1955 West Germany was internationally recognized as an independent nation. Allowed to re-arm, it joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which had been established in 1949 for the defence of Europe. West Germany ... cooperated with the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Atomic Energy Community, and the Council of Europe (see European Union).
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The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 led to U.S. calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend Western Europe from the perceived Soviet threat. Germany's partners in the Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a European Defence Community (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) would cooperate in the EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces.
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In other McCartney news: A world premiere of paintings by Paul McCartney has drawn 37,500 people since it opened on April 30 in Siegen, West Germany. Exhibition director Wolfgang Suttner said only 20,000 visitors had been initially expected. Thirty per cent came from abroad. McCartney had received offers from cities in Europe and Asia to host the exhibition after the Siegen show, Mr Suttner said. Looks like Sir Paul has another "hit".
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Germany's recession continued in 2003: for the previous three years, Europe's biggest economy had the lowest growth rate among EU countries. In Aug. 2003, Schröder unfurled an ambitious fiscal-reform package and called his proposal “the most significant set of structural reforms in the social history of Germany.” Schröder's reforms... did little to rejuvenate the economy and angered many Germans, accustomed to their country's generous social welfare programs. His reforms reduced national health insurance and cut unemployment benefits at a time when unemployment had reached an alarming 12%.
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