HELMUT KOHL, R.I.P.

Helmut Kohl was the architect of Germany reunited. More than anybody he was able to undermine the credibility of the East German aberration without going for the jugular.  This ruthless politician was able to shed the praxis of power for the "height" thereof.

With French President Francois Mitterand he was equally gifted for creating a bond which was stronger than the real misgivings which existed on the French side regarding German reunification. One saw Europe as an end an und vor sich, the other saw in the EU as a counterweight for a possible German supremacy.  At the end, both arrived at a common shared view.

A generation of Europeans, larger than life, petulant, petty, grand, self-confident, is gone. Since Brexit, one becomes aware that a new style and content of leadership is appearing here and there. Contrary to other places in the world, the member states of the EU seem to have headed the voices of renewal and enlightened political engineering. Kohl would approve.