Posted on 04/08/2013 10:54:44 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohlthe architect of German reunificationadmitted he would never have won a referendum on the adoption of the euro in his country and said he acted like a dictator to see the common currency introduced.
Germanys chancellor between 1982 and 1998, Kohl said it took him years to build the trust and negotiation skills to convince other European leaders of his ideas and push them through. In addition, the freshly reunified East Germans, happy to finally have their Deutsche Mark back, would never have voted in favor of abandoning it again for a new European currency.
I wanted to bring the euro, because to me, it meant the irreversibility of European development for me, the euro was a synonym for Europe going further, Kohl said.
But he admitted that in bringing this idea to life, he was like a dictator.
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.