Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl dies at 87
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the architect of German reunification, died on Friday, the mass-selling newspaper Bild reported. He was 87.
Bild reported in its online edition that Kohl died in the morning in his home in Ludwigshafen, in western Germany.
"We mourn," Kohl's Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) tweeted with a picture of the former chancellor.
Germany's longest serving post-war chancellor from 1982 to 1998, Kohl was a driving force behind the introduction of the euro currency, convincing skeptical Germans to give up their cherished deutschemark.
An imposing figure who formed a close relationship with French President Francois Mitterrand in pushing for closer European integration, Kohl had been frail and wheelchair-bound since suffering a bad fall in 2008.
At home, he is celebrated above all as the father of German reunification, which he achieved after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall despite resistance from partners such as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
He won voters in communist East Germany by promising them "flourishing landscapes".
Shortly after leaving office, Kohl's reputation was tarnished by a financing scandal in his center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), now led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Kohl mentored Merkel early in her career, appointing her to her first ministerial post.
Until his death, Kohl refused to identify the donors, saying he had given them his word.
(Source: Reuters)
Germany undecided on complying with ICC arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals
Scholz-Putin phone call opens ‘Pandora’s box’: Zelensky
Far-right German party calls for UN probe into ‘Berlin’s role’ in Nord Stream blasts
Israel kills 5 more paramedics in southern Lebanon: Health ministry
Iran to launch ‘new, advanced’ centrifuges in response to IAEA resolution: AEOI
Yemen fires hypersonic missile at Israeli airbase
VIDEO | New Delhi chokes under toxic smog as air quality remains at hazardous levels
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
VIDEO | ICC's arrest warrant for Netanyahu to worry Western politicians: Former British diplomat
Iranians protest against Israel after Netanyahu ICC warrant
Germany undecided on complying with ICC arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
