“I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the Euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost and by seven to three…. If a Chancellor is trying to push something through, he must be a man of power. And if he's smart, he knows when the time is ripe. In one case – the Euro – I was like a dictator … The Euro is a synonym for Europe. Europe, for the first time, has no more war.”

— Helmut Kohl

2002 interview for the PhD. of Jens Peter Paul, a German journalist

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Helmut Kohl 19

former chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and then the … 1930–2017

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