Yahoo - AFP, Christian SPILLMANN, July 1, 2017
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| Leaders gather in France to pay homage to former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died June 16 |
European
leaders joined former US president Bill Clinton on Saturday to pay tribute to
former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who oversaw the German reunification and
the end of the Cold War, but a family row marred his funeral in Germany.
Kohl was a
founder of modern-day Europe and served as chancellor from 1982 to 1998. He
died on June 16 aged 87.
"A
giant of the post-war period has left us," European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker said in an oration in the French city of Strasbourg, where
the European Parliament is located, in French and German.
"Helmut
Kohl was not just the architect of German unity. He contributed substantially,
more than others, to the reconciliation between European history and European
geography," adding that without Kohl "Europe would not have the
euro."
On Kohl's
watch, the pro-Western and pro-Soviet states of West and East Germany reunified
after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, becoming one of the stablest and
most prosperous democracies in the world.
With former
French president Francois Mitterrand, Kohl also drove the expansion and
integration of the EU.
Together,
they helped to open up its membership to fledgling democracies of the former Soviet
bloc, create the euro single currency and ripped away internal border controls.
 |
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel had a difficult relationship with Kohl,
her one-time
mentor
|
Merkel
moved
Kohl's
successor and one-time protege, Angela Merkel, struggled to rein in her
emotions as she hailed "the chancellor of unification."
"Without
Helmut Kohl, the life of millions of people, mine included, who lived on the
other side of the wall, would not be what it is today," she declared.
French
President Emmanuel Macron said: "Helmut Kohl was a privileged partner for
France, an essential ally, but he was also more than that, he was a
friend,"
"We
are here to salute his mark on history."
The EU flag
of 12 gold stars on a blue background was draped over the coffin, which was
placed in the chamber of the European Parliament by a phalanx of eight German
soldiers.
Three
wreaths were placed in front of the casket -- one in the colours of the Federal
Republic of Germany, the other in the name of the EU, and the third in the name
of Kohl's wife Maike Kohl-Richter, bearing a simple inscription: "In
Liebe, deine Meike" (With love, Maike).
The choice
of Strasbourg for the ceremony carried great symbolic weight.
A city on
the Rhine border with Germany, Strasbourg is located in a region that once was
bloodily contested by France and Germany.
Its
location is an emblem of the post-war reconciliation between the two former
enemies that was fostered by the EU.
The
parliament building was ringed by steel for the ceremony, with more than 2,000
police on duty.
Kohl's
coffin was then taken by boat down the Rhine to the southwest German town of
Speyer for his funeral service.
It was
draped in the black, red and gold flag of Germany, with the eagle of the federal
republic at its centre.
Family
row
Kohl's
funeral started at around 1600 GMT in the cathedral of the southeastern city of
Speyer. About 1,500 people were invited to the mass, which will be followed by
a military tribute.
But his
sons and their families boycotted the funeral.
Kohl's
elder son Walter had criticised his second wife Maike, who is 34 years younger
than Kohl, for spurning the offer of a state funeral in Germany. The pair
married when he was 78.
One of the
reasons for her refusal was lingering anger at Merkel for her treatment of her
former mentor.
Merkel
ousted Kohl from the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and
urged the party to drop him when he became embroiled in a party funding
scandal.
Walter Kohl
had wanted his father's coffin to be taken to the German capital for "a
national homage, an ecumenical requiem and a military farewell ceremony"
near the Brandenburg Gate, where the German leader witnessed the fall of the
Berlin Wall.
Because of
a long-running feud with his stepmother, who jealously guards her husband's
political legacy, Walter Kohl had not had contact with his father for many
years and said he learned of his death from a radio report.
World leaders hold an emotional tribute in Strasbourg for former German chancellor #HelmutKohl pic.twitter.com/jGC5Hhc1YU— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 1, 2017
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