Supranational visionary and builder of Euroland: Former German chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl on the euro's significance for Germany and its neighbors

Abstract

Executive Overview Dr. Helmut Kohl served as Germany's chancellor during the watershed period between the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new multipolar world order. He grew into a towering figure of the postwar era, occupying strong network centrality in the heart of Europe. He directed its major developments and was consulted on all key issues: virtually no important decision in Europe could be made without him. Under his leadership, Germany reached a level of economic power and political influence seldom seen in its history, but at the same time it gave up more national sovereignty to supranational bodies like the European Union than ever before. Instead of a German Europe. Kohl's answer to “the German question”—concerning Germany's national identity, unity, and global role—was a Europeanized Germany. He wanted to achieve this vision through the process of European integration that he promoted as a key political player. One of Kohl's major legacies is the euro, the common European currency. It offers the prospect of increased trade in the European Common Market and may serve as an economic catalyst for political union. On the other hand, it may increase tensions between European countries that continue to act and feel like nation states, and between European nations and the rest of the world. This result may lead to the breakdown of the artificially built and structurally unstable European house. Not all inhabitants of this house are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Europe, which may precipitate its downfall in time of crisis. This interview with Dr. Kai-Alexander Schlevogt, a leading German management expert, is one of the rare occasions on which Dr. Kohl has offered his view on the gigantic economic project and financial mega-experiment which will decisively influence Germany's and Europe's destiny in the 21st century and beyond.