quote:

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So far some 45 city stores have said they will accept it, the Green League environmental group, which organises the scheme, said on Thursday.

The German capital, struggling with an 18 percent jobless rate and still reeling from the collapse of a post-reunification property boom, is a tough place for retailers and "For rent" signs in empty shop windows are an increasingly common sight.

From September, Berlin will be the first major German city to embrace the idea following some 50 smaller communities around the country which have already introduced their own money to keep wealth in the area for the benefit of the local population.

No commission will be charged on buying "Berliners" but when changing them back into euros, five percent of face value will go to community projects, such as after-school child-care groups and local bicycle lending schemes.

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Of course, a woman, female animale or feminine thing is a Berlinerin.

If other German communities decide to adopt currencies of their own, German unity may very well come apart, and we'll see a multitude of loosely federated tiny states that are part of no single polity.