![]() Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (photo taken during a parliamentary session) | |
Date | 1 July 2017 |
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Venue | European Parliament |
Location | Strasbourg, France |
Organised by | European Union |
The European act of state in honour of Helmut Kohl was an act of state to honour former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl following his death, and took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 1 July 2017 from 11 AM to 1 PM. It was announced by the European Commission on 18 June 2017, and was the first European act of state in the history of the European Union. It was co-organised by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council.
Helmut Kohl died on 16 June 2017 and was survived by his sons Walter Kohl and Peter Kohl, and grandchildren Johannes Volkmann and Leyla Kohl. The European Commission announced that it was planning a grand ceremony, attended by European heads of state and government, to honour Kohl. Kohl was one of only three people to be awarded the title Honorary Citizen of Europe by the European Union, and was, together with French President François Mitterrand, one of the two principal architects of the Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union and the euro currency. He was also considered the "father of the German reunification." [1] [2] [3]
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The speakers at the ceremony were, in the following order [4]
No member of the Kohl family, Kohl's children and grandchildren, attended the ceremony, owing to a feud with Kohl's controversial second wife Maike Kohl-Richter, who had among other things barred them from paying their respects to their father and grandfather after his death, ignored their wish for a ceremony in Berlin and their wish that Kohl should be interred alongside his parents and his wife of four decades Hannelore Kohl in the family tomb. [8] Richter had also attempted to bar Chancellor Merkel from speaking and wanted to have Viktor Orbán, who has fiercely criticized Merkel's refugee policy, speak instead. [9]
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck, and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Furthermore, Kohl's tenure of 16 years, 26 days is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany.
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right in German politics.
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Klaus Kinkel was a German statesman, civil servant, diplomat and lawyer who served as the minister of Foreign affairs (1992–1998) and the vice-chancellor of Germany (1993–1998) in the government of Helmut Kohl.
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Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany, died on the morning of Friday, 16 June 2017 in the Oggersheim district of Ludwigshafen, his home town, aged 87. In office from 1982 to 1998, he is widely regarded as the "father of the German reunification" and as a principal architect of the Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union (EU) and the euro currency. In 1998 he became the second person to be named an Honorary Citizen of Europe. Following his death, he was lauded by world leaders as "the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century" and was honoured with an unprecedented European Act of State in his honour in Strasbourg, France, attended by the leaders of the EU's nations and other current and former world leaders. Subsequently, a Catholic requiem mass was celebrated in the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, after which Kohl was interred in the nearby Old Cemetery.
Maike Kohl-Richter is best known as the second wife of the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl from 2008 until his death in 2017. She is controversial in Germany for her right-wing anti-immigrant views and support for Viktor Orbán, and for her public feud with Kohl's children and grandchildren. She has been accused of hijacking the Kohl legacy and "has been criticized by Kohl's own children for allegedly hero-worshipping the former chancellor and being obsessed" with him. She was criticized by German media, public figures and the Kohl family after Kohl's death.
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