Why was helmut kohl important

Europe is not a national state but a fatherland of diverse fatherlands , a variegated union of sovereign states in which small entities have the same rights as larger ones. Centralized functions should be limited to the essential, excessive harmonization avoided, and healthy internal competition between member states and regions encouraged. German-French friendship remains crucial, but it should not overshadow everything else The German-French friendship remains crucial, but it should not overshadow everything else.

The current push from Paris to create union-level ministries of finance and economy can only be detrimental. Helmut Kohl refused a German state funeral. He wanted a European and Christian memorial, and asked to be buried in Speyer, an old Roman town on the Rhine. Beneath the magnificent Romanesque vaults of Speyer Cathedral, some of the most important emperors of the 12th and 13th centuries are buried.

Helmut Kohl and the European ideal If the European Union wants to survive and thrive, it should pay attention to the legacy of Dr. Helmut Kohl. The former German Chancellor, who died last week, belongs to a line of giants including Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer. What they understood is what today's European leaders are getting wrong. Ties that bind European integration was his main focus. Tiny window The German government strongly supported the countries of Central Europe in their post-communist transformation, and Chancellor Kohl was essential in paving the way for their access to the EU.

Even Dr. Europe owes him a great debt. During his studies, he completed training and work assignments at banks and manufacturing companies in Prince Michael of Liechtenstein. Latest Big Government is watching you. The Central European dilemma. More on subject. Another gesture of friendship and reconciliation the following year turned into a public relations fiasco. President Ronald Reagan to a war cemetery in Bitburg where SS troops were buried alongside ordinary German soldiers generated international indignation.

The Soviet Union protested. The following year, Kohl plunged his party into crisis when he admitted accepting undeclared — and therefore illegal — donations during his time as chancellor. Kohl refused to identify the donors. His silence helped trigger a parliamentary inquiry and was condemned by many, both inside and outside his party, but Kohl vehemently denied that any decisions by his government were bought.

That was a common German practice but judicial investigations into other figures in the murky financing scandal continued. Journalists and historians had asked to see the material, prompting speculation it could shed light on the financing scandal. The former chancellor was married for 41 years to Hannelore Renner, an interpreter of English and French who stood firmly but discreetly by his side.

They had two sons, Peter and Walter. In July , Hannelore killed herself at age 68 in despair over an incurable allergy to light. In , Kohl introduced his new partner Maike Richter, an economist some 35 years his junior. Economic and monetary union was, moreover, the prelude to political unity. This procedure avoided the difficulties involved in creating a new German State with a new Constitution. As early as 31 August , the Unification Treaty was signed in Berlin. The Treaty came into force on 3 October.

The elections to the Bundestag for the whole of Germany, which took place on 2 December, saw the success of the Christian Democrat-Liberal coalition and thus ratified the reunification of the country. His youthful zeal for reform was apparent, as was his appetite for power — the latter was evident in the way Kohl and the younger generation of politicians forced aside and replaced Peter Altmeier, his predecessor as party chairman and minister president.

Kohl pursued his political advancement with focus and determination, and he clearly found capable associates to accompany his rise, both then and later.

During his time as minister president in Mainz the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate , these included his minister of education and cultural affairs, Bernhard Vogel, who later succeeded him there. In , during his years in Ludwigshafen, Kohl married Hannelore Renner, who had studied linguistics in Mainz. The couple had two sons: Walter was born in and Peter in Kohl often stressed how important family life was to him.

In , Helmut Kohl stood a second time for the position of CDU national chairman, after Rainer Barzel, the incumbent, had decided not to run again. His election took place during a difficult phase for the party. It was further exacerbated by the defeat at the polls to Willy Brandt in In response, Kohl worked to increase the power of the party leadership relative to that of the CDU group in the Bundestag, where he was unable to act as opposition leader. To that end, he brought in energetic, hands-on general secretaries and gave them the task of introducing structural reforms.

The first to take on this role was the economics professor and sometime industry executive Kurt Biedenkopf — The result was an effective reorganization of the party headquarters and the party machine. With regard to the substance of its programme, the high point came with the CDU party conference in Ludwigshafen and the manifesto adopted there. There is no doubt that, for Kohl, the CDU was always more than just a party-political organisation; it was something that lay close to his heart.

That may explain his extensive knowledge of party life and party officials, which was legendary. In any event, he is considered one of the greatest party chairmen in the history of the Federal Republic.

This led to friction between the two party chairmen early on. Soon afterwards, however, the two party chairmen pragmatically agreed to continue working as a single parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Although he was not elected chancellor, he gave up the office of Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Nevertheless, he had trouble competing with Schmidt on the public stage, as the latter was very experienced in national politics and a man of rhetorical brilliance. This, too, was a far-sighted decision. Without consulting the CSU, Kohl then brought forward Ernst Albrecht, the minister president of Lower Saxony, for consideration as a chancellor candidate. Kohl supported him in the ensuing election campaign.

It won Kohl had again proven that he could wait for the right moment, and he refused to be discouraged by setbacks. The election result of finally resolved the power struggle playing out at national level between the CDU and CSU chairmen, in favour of Kohl. And although the coalition government remained in place, both men recognized that the unity between the SPD and the FDP was being gradually eroded by conflicting objectives in economic and social policy, and later in foreign and national security policy.

In the autumn of , the government collapsed.