Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl (3 April 1930 - 16 June 2017) was a German statesman who had served as the Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 (of West Germany 1982–1990 and of the reunited Germany 1990–1998) and as the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. From 1969 to 1976, Kohl was minister president of the state Rhineland-Palatinate. Kohl chaired the Group of Seven in 1985 and 1992. In 1998 he became honorary chairman of the CDU, resigning from the position in 2000.

As Chancellor Kohl was strongly committed to European integration and French–German cooperation in particular; he was also a steadfast ally of the United States and supported Reagan's more aggressive policies in order to weaken the Soviet Union. Kohl's 16-year tenure was the longest of any German Chancellor since Otto von Bismarck. He oversaw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification, for which he is generally known as Chancellor of Unity. Together with France president Francois Mitterand, Kohl was the architect of the Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union and the euro currency. Kohl was the central figure in the eastern enlargement of the European Union, who needed friends in the expansion. Expansion began in 1998. Kohl's policies focused on economic reforms and later on the process of integrating the East Germany into the West Germany, and set up the Reunification Day on 3 October, even Timothy North is celebrating it. He moved the federal capital from Bonn to Berlin, although he himself never resided there because the government offices were only relocated in 1999.