Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

== Political views ==
{{Conservatism in Germany|Politicians}}
Kohl was committed to European integration, maintaining close relations with French president François Mitterrand. Parallel to this, he was committed to German reunification. Although he continued the ''Ostpolitik'' of his social democratic predecessors, Kohl supported Reagan's more aggressive policies to weaken the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>Sean N. Kalic, "Reagan's SDI announcement and the European reaction. Diplomacy in the last decade of the Cold War", in Leopoldo Nuti (ed.), ''The Crisis of Détente in Europe: From Helsinki to Gorbachev 1975–1985'', p. 104, Routledge, 2008, {{ISBN|9781134044986}}</ref> He had a strained relationship with British prime minister and fellow conservative [[Margaret Thatcher]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/thatcher-versus-kohl-they-didn-t-naturally-enjoy-each-other-s-company-a-648901.html |title=Thatcher versus Kohl 'They Didn't Naturally Enjoy Each Other's Company' |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=14 September 2009 |access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=Oltermann |location=Berlin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/16/helmut-kohl-ex-chancellor-and-architect-of-german-reunification-dies-aged-87 |title=Helmut Kohl, Germany's reunification chancellor, dies aged 87 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 June 2017 |access-date=18 June 2017 |quote=Relations with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a noted sceptic of Germany's renewed power after reunification, remained frosty throughout their time in office.}}</ref> although Kohl did allow her secret access to his plans on reunification in March 1990,<ref>{{cite web |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |title=Kohl offered Thatcher secret access to reunification plans |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/helmut-kohl-margaret-thatcher-reunification-plans-national-archives-files |newspaper=The Guardian |date=30 December 2016 |access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref> to allay the concerns she shared with Mitterrand.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blitz|first=James|title=Mitterrand feared emergence of 'bad' Germans|url=https://www.ft.com/content/886192ba-9d7d-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/886192ba-9d7d-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=10 December 2022|url-access=limited|date=9 September 2009|newspaper=Financial Times|access-date=14 May 2017}}</ref>