Fear of losing job

Stephan Gummert watches Germany's rising monthly unemployment figures with concern, not least because he fears he may soon be a part of them.

Now 32, he has been training and working as a nurse at the Charité hospital in Berlin for the past eight years.

But in its search for a cut of almost €100m the city health authority plans to merge the Charité with a hospital in another part of the capital.

"We fear a series of personnel reductions", says Mr Gummert, who is also a local representative of the public sector union Ver.di.

With debts of almost €45bn, Berlin is an outstanding example of the new, financially humbled Germany.

The government has been considering for years what to do with the health service.

Mr Gummert is convinced that whatever it eventually decides will bring more bad news to people like him.

"Bit by bit, the state is pulling back from its responsibility and leaving more and more room for manoeuvre to private investors," he said.

The mood among his fellow employees at the Charité, he said, was one of "much indignation, and much resignation".