Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

== Chancellor of Germany, 1982–1998 ==
=== Rise to power and first cabinet, 1982–1983 ===
{{Main|First Kohl cabinet}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F064809-0010, CDU Bundestagswahlkampf, Kohl.jpg|thumb|Kohl at a campaign event for the [[1983 West German federal election]]]]
On 1 October 1982, the CDU proposed a constructive vote of no confidence which was supported by the FDP. The motion carried—to date, the only time that a chancellor has been deposed in this manner. Three days later, the Bundestag voted in a new CDU/CSU-FDP coalition cabinet, with Kohl as chancellor. Many of the important details of the new coalition had been hammered out on 20 September, though minor details were reportedly still being negotiated as the vote took place. 

Though Kohl's election was done according to the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law]], it came amid some controversy. The FDP had fought its 1980 campaign on the side of the SPD and even placed Chancellor Schmidt on some of their campaign posters. There were also doubts that the new government had the support of a majority of the people. In answer, the new government aimed at new elections at the earliest possible date. Polls suggested that a clear majority was indeed within reach. As the Basic Law only allows the dissolution of parliament after an unsuccessful confidence motion, Kohl had to take another controversial move: he called for a confidence vote only a month after being sworn in, which he intentionally lost because the members of his coalition abstained. President Karl Carstens then dissolved the Bundestag at Kohl's request and called new elections.<ref name="Roberts">Geoffrey K. Roberts, "Outcomes of the Bundestag elections 1949–2005", in ''German politics today'', Oxford University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|9781847794062}}</ref>

The move was controversial, as the coalition parties denied their votes to the same man they had elected Chancellor a month before and whom they wanted to re-elect after the parliamentary election. However, this step was condoned by the German [[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|Federal Constitutional Court]] as a legal instrument and was again applied by SPD Chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]] in 2005.<ref name="Roberts" />

=== Second cabinet, 1983–1987 ===
{{Main|Second Kohl cabinet}}

In the [[1983 West German federal election|federal elections of March 1983]], Kohl won a resounding victory. The CDU/CSU won 48.8%, while the FDP won 7.0%. Some opposition members of the Bundestag, angered by what SPD figures in the Hessian regional elections had called the FDP's 'betrayal in Bonn', asked the Federal Constitutional Court to declare the whole proceeding unconstitutional. It denied their claim but did set restrictions on a similar move in the future. The second Kohl cabinet pushed through several controversial plans, including the stationing of [[NATO]] midrange missiles, against major opposition from the peace movement.<ref>Jeffrey A. Engel, ''The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Revolutionary Legacy of 1989'', p. 47, Oxford University Press, 2011, {{ISBN|9780199832446}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F065185-0016, Bonn, Sitzung CDU-Präsidium.jpg|thumb|Kohl and former chancellor Kiesinger in 1983]]
On 22 September 1984, Kohl met French president [[François Mitterrand]] at [[Verdun]], where the [[Battle of Verdun]] between France and Germany had taken place during World War I. Together, they commemorated the deaths of both World Wars. The photograph, which depicted [[Mitterrand and Kohl holding hands in Verdun|their minutes-long handshake]] became an important symbol of French-German reconciliation. Kohl and Mitterrand developed a close political relationship, forming an important motor for [[European integration]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Van Hoef |first=Yuri |title=Friendship in world politics: Assessing the personal relationships between Kohl and Mitterrand, and Bush and Gorbachev |url=https://amityjournal.leeds.ac.uk/ |journal=Amity: The Journal of Friendship Studies |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=72–75 }}</ref> Together they laid the foundations for European projects, like [[Eurocorps]] and [[Arte]]. In 1985, alongside European leaders from 16 other countries, they founded [[Eureka (organisation)|Eureka]]: a research and development network of national funding ministries and agencies (distinct from the European Union) that fund and support collaborative international projects. This French-German cooperation also was vital for important European projects, like the [[Treaty of Maastricht]] and the Euro.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dedman|first=Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOupcX3KywgC&q=cooperation+mitterand+kohl|title=The Origins and Development of the European Union 1945–2008: A History of European Integration|date=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-43560-4|language=en}}</ref>

In 1985, Kohl and US president [[Ronald Reagan]], as part of a plan to observe the 40th anniversary of [[V-E Day]], saw an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the friendship that existed between Germany and its former foe. During a November 1984 visit to the White House, Kohl appealed to Reagan to join him in symbolising the reconciliation of their two countries at a German military cemetery. Reagan visited Germany as part of the [[11th G7 summit]] in Bonn; then he and Kohl visited [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] on 5 May and the [[Bitburg controversy|German military cemetery at Bitburg]]. There was widespread outrage when the media reported that this cemetery had the graves of SS soldiers but no Americans. Reagan considered that escalating Cold War confrontations with the Kremlin required his strong support for Kohl.<ref>Deborah E. Lipstadt, "The Bitburg Controversy." ''American Jewish Year Book'' (1987): 21–37 [https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/87bi/87bitburg.pdf online].</ref>

==== Domestic policies ====
Kohl's chancellorship presided over a number of innovative policy measures. Extensions in unemployment benefits for older claimants were introduced, while the benefit for the young unemployed was extended to age 21. In 1986, a child-rearing allowance was introduced to benefit parents when at least one was employed. Informal carers were offered an attendance allowance together with tax incentives, both of which were established with the tax reforms of 1990, and were also guaranteed up to 25 hours a month of professional support, which was supplemented by four weeks of annual holiday relief. In 1984, an early retirement scheme was introduced that offered incentives to employers to replace elderly workers with applicants off the unemployment register. In 1989, a partial retirement plan was introduced under which elderly employees could work half-time and receive 70% of their former salary "and be credited with 90 per cent of the full social insurance entitlement." In 1984, a Mother and Child Fund was established, providing discretionary grants "to forestall abortions on grounds of material hardship," and in 1986 a 10 Bn DM package of Erziehungsgeld (childcare allowance) was introduced, although according to various studies, this latter initiative was heavily counterbalanced by cuts. In 1989, special provisions were introduced for the older unemployed.<ref>The Federal Republic of Germany: The End of an era edited by Eva Kolinsky</ref>

Kohl's time as Chancellor also saw some controversial decisions in the field of social policy. Student aid was made reimbursable to the state<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M5wTncOaHEQC&pg=PA552 |title=Europe in the Twentieth Century |first1=Robert |last1=Paxton |first2=Julie |last2=Hessler |date=January 2011 |page=552  |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0495913191 |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref> while the Health Care Reform Act of 1989 introduced the concept by which patients pay up front and are reimbursed, while increasing patient co-payments for hospitalisation, spa visits, dental prostheses, and prescription drugs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/sites/martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/files/radich.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/sites/martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/files/radich.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |title=A Single Health Care System for a Reunified Germany |first=Nicole A. |last=Radich |website=Martindale.cc.lehigh.edu |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref> In addition, while a 1986 Baby-Year Pensions reform granted women born after 1921 one year of work-credit per child, lawmakers were forced by public protest to phase in supplementary pension benefits for mothers who were born before the cut-off year.<ref>{{cite book|first=Joyce Marie |last=Mushaben |author-link=Joyce Mushaben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNVU3x4ZbjYC&pg=PA207 |title='Challenging the Maternalist Presumption: The Gender Politics of Welfare Reform in Germany and the United States' in Women and Welfare: Theory and Practice in the United States and Europe |editor1-first=Nancy J. |editor1-last=Hirschmann |editor2-first=Ulrike |editor2-last=Liebert |page=207 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=9780813528823 |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref>

=== Third cabinet, 1987–1991 ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F075760-0020, Brüssel, Sitzung des Europarates.jpg|Kohl at a 1987 [[European Council]] meeting with vice-chancellor and foreign minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]]|thumb|right]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0907-017, Bonn, Besuch Erich Honecker, mit Helmut Kohl.jpg|thumb|upright|Kohl (right) and [[Erich Honecker]] at the [[Federal Chancellery in Bonn]], 1987]]
After the [[1987 West German federal election|1987 federal elections]] Kohl won a slightly reduced majority and formed his [[Cabinet Kohl III|third cabinet]]. The SPD's candidate for chancellor was the [[Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Johannes Rau]].<ref>Giuliano Bonoli, Martin Powell, ''Social Democratic Party Policies in Contemporary Europe'', p. 173, Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|9781134408917}}</ref>

In 1987, Kohl hosted East German leader [[Erich Honecker]] – the [[Erich Honecker's 1987 visit to West Germany|first ever visit]] by an East German head of state to West Germany. This is generally seen as a sign that Kohl pursued ''Ostpolitik'', a policy of [[détente]] between East and West that had been begun by the SPD-led governments (and strongly opposed by Kohl's own CDU) during the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fpri.org/article/2013/03/the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-the-power-of-individuals-and-the-unpredictability-of-history/|title=The Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Power of Individuals, and the Unpredictability of History|publisher=Foreign Policy Research Institute|language=en-US|access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref>

==== Internal struggle for CDU leadership ====
The CDU's general secretary, Heiner Geißler, considered the party to be in a downward spiral following the relatively poor showing in the 1987 elections. Behind the scenes, he attempted to find a majority to unseat Kohl as the party's chairman and replace him with [[Lothar Späth]], the [[Minister-president]] of [[Baden-Württemberg]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wagner |first1=Joerg Helge |title=Putschisten und Paladine |url=https://www.weser-kurier.de/startseite_artikel,-putschisten-und-paladine-_arid,1614189.html |publisher=Weser-Kurier |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=17 June 2017}}</ref> Before the CDU party convention in [[Bremen]] started on 11 September 1989, Kohl was diagnosed with an inflammation of his prostate.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Luley |first1=Peter |title=Kohl und wie er die Welt sah |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |url=https://taz.de/!5154176/ |publisher=[[die tageszeitung]] |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=16 October 2009}}</ref> His doctor recommended immediate surgery, but Kohl refused to miss the convention and attended while wearing a [[catheter]] and with his doctor by his side, whom he introduced as his new speech writer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spöcker |first1=Christoph |title=Helmut Kohl: Kleine Anekdoten aus dem Leben eines großen Politikers |date=2017 |publisher=riva Verlag |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-86883-826-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kblbCwAAQBAJ |language=de}}</ref> In the end, the "coup" was unsuccessful, as Kohl was re-elected as chairman with 79.52% of the votes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Die Wahlergebnisse aller bisherigen CDU-Vorsitzenden |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/die-wahlergebnisse-aller-bisherigen-cdu-vorsitzenden/134980.html |newspaper=[[Der Tagesspiegel]] |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=10 April 2000}}</ref> Späth, who did not stand for the position of chairman after support for Kohl became apparent, was punished by his party, failing to be elected as vice-chairman with just 357 of 731 votes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hofmann |first1=Gunter |title=Kanzlerstark, aber kopflos |url=https://www.zeit.de/1989/38/kanzlerstark-aber-kopflos |access-date=28 June 2019 |work=[[Die Zeit]] |issue=38/1989 |language=de}}</ref> Geißler meanwhile was relieved of his duties as general secretary and replaced by [[Volker Rühe]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Parteitag: Siegen oder untergehen |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13507108.html |access-date=28 June 2019 |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |issue=38/1989 |pages=26–28 |language=de}}</ref>

==== Road to reunification ====
{{Main|German reunification}}

Following the breach of the [[Berlin Wall]] and the collapse of the East German Communist regime in 1989, Kohl's handling of the East German issue would become the turning point of his chancellorship. Kohl, like most West Germans, was initially caught unaware when the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] was toppled in late 1989. Well aware of his constitutional mandate to seek German unity, he immediately moved to make it a reality. Taking advantage of the historic political changes occurring in East Germany, Kohl presented a ten-point plan for "Overcoming of the division of Germany and Europe" without consulting his coalition partner, the FDP, or the Western Allies. In February 1990, he visited the Soviet Union seeking a guarantee from [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] that the USSR would allow German reunification to proceed. [[1990 East German general election|One month later]], the [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]] – the renamed SED – was roundly defeated by a grand coalition headed by the East German counterpart of Kohl's CDU, which ran on a platform of speedy reunification.<ref name=Thompson>{{cite book |title=The World Today Series: Nordic, Central and Southeastern Europe 2008|last=Thompson |first=Wayne C. |year=2008 |publisher=Stryker-Post Publications |location=Harpers Ferry, West Virginia |isbn=978-1-887985-95-6}}</ref>

On 18 May 1990, Kohl signed an economic and social union treaty with East Germany. This treaty stipulated that when reunification took place, it would be under the quicker provisions of Article 23 of the Basic Law. That article stated that any new states could adhere to the Basic Law by a simple majority vote. The alternative would have been the more protracted route of drafting a completely new constitution for the newly reunified country, as provided by Article 146 of the Basic Law. However, the Article 146 process would have opened up contentious issues in West Germany. Even without this to consider, by this time East Germany was in a state of utter collapse. In contrast, an Article 23 reunification could be completed in as little as six months.<ref>Alexander von Plato, ''The End of the Cold War?: Bush, Kohl, Gorbachev, and the Reunification of Germany'', p. 226, Springer, 2016, {{ISBN|9781137488725}}</ref>

Over the objections of [[Deutsche Bundesbank|Bundesbank]] president [[Karl Otto Pöhl]], he allowed a 1:1 exchange rate for wages, interest and rent between the [[German mark|West]] and [[East German mark|East Marks]]. In the end, this policy would seriously hurt companies in the [[New states of Germany|new federal states]]. Together with Foreign Minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]], Kohl was able to resolve talks with the former Allies of World War II to allow [[German reunification]]. He received assurances from Gorbachev that a reunified Germany would be able to choose which international alliance it wanted to join, although Kohl made no secret that he wanted the reunified Germany to inherit West Germany's seats at NATO and the EC.<ref>P. Caldwell, R. Shandley, ''German Unification: Expectations and Outcomes'', p. 26ff, Springer, 2010, {{ISBN|9780230337954}}</ref>

[[File:KohlModrowMomperBrandenburgerTor.jpg|thumb|Kohl speaks at the official opening of the [[Brandenburg Gate]] in 1989.]]
A reunification treaty was signed on 31 August 1990 and was overwhelmingly approved by both parliaments on 20 September 1990. At midnight [[Central European Time]] on 3 October 1990, East Germany officially ceased to exist, and its territory joined the Federal Republic as the five states of [[Brandenburg]], Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, [[Saxony]], Saxony-Anhalt and [[Thuringia]]. These states had been the original five states of East Germany before being abolished in 1952 and had been reconstituted in August. East and West Berlin were reunited as a city-state which became the capital of the enlarged Federal Republic.
[[File:Helmut Kohl & François Mitterrand - 1989.jpg|thumb|Kohl and French President [[François Mitterrand]] at the [[European Council]] Summit in Strasbourg, 9 December 1989]]
After the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], Kohl affirmed that [[Former eastern territories of Germany|former German territories]] east of the [[Oder-Neisse line]] were definitively part of Poland, thereby relinquishing any claim Germany had to them in a [[German–Polish Border Treaty|treaty signed]] on 14 November 1990 in [[Warsaw]]. Though, earlier in March of that year, Kohl caused a diplomatic firestorm when he suggested that a reunified Germany would not accept the Oder–Neisse line, and implied that the Federal Republic might wish to restore the frontier of 1937, by force if necessary.<ref>Merkl, Peter H. German Unification in the European Context University Park: Penn State Press, 2010 page 132.</ref> After the statement caused a major international backlash that threatened to halt German reunification, Kohl retracted his comments after knuckling under international rebuke and assured both the United States and the Soviet Union that a reunified Germany would accept the Oder–Neisse line as the final border between Poland and Germany.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Kohl Retreats, Says He Accepts Polish Borders |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-07-mn-1895-story.html |work= Los Angeles Times |date= 7 March 1990 |access-date=}}</ref> In 1993, Kohl confirmed, via treaty with the Czech Republic, that Germany would no longer bring forward territorial claims as to the pre-1945 [[ethnic German]] [[Sudetenland]]. This treaty was a disappointment for the German [[Heimatvertriebene]] ("displaced persons").<ref>Rödder 2009, S. 236 f.; Heinrich August Winkler: Der lange Weg nach Westen. Zweiter Band: Deutsche Geschichte vom «Dritten Reich» bis zur Wiedervereinigung. Fünfte, durchgesehene Auflage, München 2002, S. 552.</ref><ref>"Während die polnische Seite noch weiter auf die Heimatvertriebenen zugehen muß – Worte allein sind eben nicht genug – müssen die ... Verständliche Enttäuschung und Verbitterung in den Reihen der Vertriebenen, die vielfach zu einer Verweigerungshaltung geführt haben, dürfen ..." (Friedbert Pflüger, Winfried Lipscher, Feinde werden Freunde: Von den Schwierigkeiten der deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft, Bouvier Verlag, 1993, p. 425.)<!-- isbn needed --></ref><ref>"Kohl hat das Gegenteil getan und dadurch Enttäuschung und Bitterkeit geradezu vorprogrammiert. Dieser innenpolitischen Einschätzung Vogels ist nichts hinzuzufügen. (Jahrestag der Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen am 5....)" Richard Saage, Axel Rüdiger, Feinde werden Freunde: Elemente einer politischen Ideengeschichte der Demokratie:historisch-politische Studien, Duncker & Humblot, 2006, p. 285.<!-- isbn needed --></ref>

=== After reunification, 1990–1998 ===
{{See also|Fourth Kohl cabinet|Fifth Kohl cabinet}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0916-021, Dresden, CDU-Wahlveranstaltung, Helmut Kohl.jpg|thumb|Kohl in 1990]]
Reunification placed Kohl in a momentarily unassailable position. In the [[1990 German federal election|1990 elections]]&nbsp;– the first free, fair and democratic all-German elections since the [[Weimar Republic]] era&nbsp;– Kohl won by a landslide over opposition candidate and Minister-President of [[Saarland]], [[Oskar Lafontaine]]. He then formed his [[Cabinet Kohl IV|fourth cabinet]].<ref>A. James McAdams, ''Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification'', p. 221, Princeton University Press, 1994, {{ISBN|9780691001081}}</ref>
[[File:George H. W. Bush and Helmut Kohl.jpg|thumb|Kohl meets with U.S. President [[George H. W. Bush]] in Washington, D.C., 16 September 1991]]
After the [[1994 German federal election|federal elections of 1994]] Kohl was reelected with a somewhat reduced majority, defeating Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate [[Rudolf Scharping]]. The SPD was able to win a majority in the [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]], which significantly limited Kohl's power. In foreign politics, Kohl was more successful, for instance getting [[Frankfurt am Main]] as the seat for the [[European Central Bank]]. In 1997, Kohl received the [[Vision for Europe Award]] for his efforts in the unification of Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/ContentArchiv/EN/Archiv17/Reiseberichte/l-merkel-chosen-for-vision-for-europe-award.html|title=Bundeskanzlerin – Merkel chosen for 'Vision for Europe' Award|website=bundeskanzlerin.de|date=13 November 2006 }}</ref>

By the late 1990s, Kohl's popularity had dropped amid rising unemployment. He was defeated by a large margin in the [[1998 German federal election|1998 federal elections]] by the [[Minister-President of Lower Saxony]], Gerhard Schröder.<ref name=Thompson />

The future Chancellor [[Angela Merkel]] started her political career as Kohl's protégée and was known in the 1990s as "Kohl's girl"; in January 1991, he lifted the then little-known Merkel to national prominence by appointing her to the federal cabinet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/31/germany.lukeharding|title=The 'ordinary but ambitious' girl from the east who is set to be Germany's next leader|first=Luke|last=Harding|date=30 May 2005|work=The Guardian}}</ref>