Thu 11 Nov 2002Berlin to sue Schroder as it runs out of moneyGERMANY: The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, is no stranger to alimony. The German leader shells out thousands of euros in alimony to his three former wives each month. But now he could be forced to hand over €40 billion in alimony, not to a former spouse but to an estranged, spoiled child: the city of Berlin.The German capital is on the verge of bankruptcy and the city is going to court to prove that Mr Schröder's government is to blame. The financial crisis goes back to the fall of the Berlin Wall, 13 years ago this weekend. For nearly three decades the government of West Berlin grew fat on subsidies from Bonn that made up half of its annual budget.