Germany marks 60th birthday amid economic uncertainty (Roundup)

May 22, 2009, 13:02 GMT

   Berlin - President Horst Koehler said Germany could look back on its achievements but warned of difficult times ahead as the country marked the 60th anniversary of its constitution on Friday.

'We have turned into an open and cosmopolitan society' thanks to a constitution that is 'a beacon of freedom,' the president said during an act of state at a Berlin concert hall.

Koehler, who faces a presidential election on Saturday, said post- war Germany had faced up to the crimes of the Nazis and had sought reconciliation with the Jews.

'We have learned from our history and therefore will always act to counter anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia,' he told the gathering, attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leading figures from political and public life.

'We have regained the trust of our neighbours in the West and also in the East,' he said, adding that Germany would live up to its responsibility as 'a driving force for European unity.'

But he said the country faced new challenges posed by the global economic crisis and warned that 'unemployment will increase before it gets better.'

A former director of the International Monetary Fund, Koehler called for an 'ecological industrial revolution,' in Germany and elsewhere in the world.

He said new sources of energy needed to be found and new methods of production developed in order to improve the quality of life.

Modern Germany began as a divided nation born out of the rubble of World War II. On May 23, 1949, the West German Constitution was proclaimed, laying the foundation for West Germany's federal republic.

Mindful of the mistakes of its Nazi past and under the watchful eye of the western Allied powers, Germany has risen to become one of the world's most respected and prosperous nations and a pillar of the European Union.

   Over the decades, Germany has spawned an economic miracle, survived the uncertainty of the Cold War and was reunited with its eastern part in a historic moment celebrated across the Western world.

   The post-war economic boom prompted a wave of immigration that laid the foundation for a new multicultural identity. Meanwhile, Jewish life has resurfaced, and ethnic Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe have been invited to help rebuild a Jewish community in Germany.

On Saturday, the actual day of the anniversary, the people will have a chance to celebrate at a huge party along the avenue leading to the landmark Brandenburg Gate.

On the same day, a new president will also be elected by the Federal Assembly, a body of 1,224 legislators and ordinary citizens whose sole job it is to choose the head of state.

Koehler, backed by Merkel's Christian Democrats, is seeking a second five-year term. Three other candidates are also in the race, among them Gesine Schwan, a professor backed by the centre-left Social Democrats.