Helmut Kohl

The legend of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) passed away in his sleep.
Schuble, who was part of the Bundestag for more than 50 years, is survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.
He was born in Freiburg in 1942, where he studied, and then he studied at the University of Hamburg.

Something's changed in the tough world of politics, and not just in Greece. Up until approximately a decade ago, few if any European politicians who had risen high through the ranks ever believed they might need to get a regular job someday. Politics was a closed system that ensured a degree of protection and relative permanence.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is backing Saturday's planned shutdown of the country's last three operating nuclear power plants, even though one of the smaller partners in his coalition government, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), is proposing to keep the reactors as an energy "reserve," reports DPA, quoted by BTA.

More than 60% of German residents are dissatisfied with the work of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the governing coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.

This is shown by the results of a survey published last night, conducted by the sociological institute INSA on behalf of the "Bild" newspaper.

With a hit by the "godmother of punk" Nina Hagen, Germany's military saluted a visibly moved Angela Merkel during a ceremonial farewell on Dec. 2, just a week before she is due to bow out of politics after 16 years in office.

Two popular fallacies are thriving in a Europe of populism and diminished expectations. Many argue that Europe's problem is a problem of leadership. Missing are statesmen with the stature of Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand or Jacques Delors. Historical distance tends to elevate and idealize leaders of the past.

Angela Merkel will be formally elected chancellor of Germany by parliament on Wednesday, the fourth time she will lead the government since 2005. If she sees out a full term, Ms Merkel will have spent 16 years in office, equalling the record set by Helmut Kohl between 1982 and 1998.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc has won the Bundestag elections, scoring 33% of the vote, Federal Returning Officer Dieter Sarreither, responsible for German elections, said citing the official preliminary results of the voting.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives secured a fourth consecutive term in office on Sept. 24 in an election that brought a far-right party into the German parliament for the first time in more than half a century, exit polls indicated.
   

Former German Chancellor and statesman Helmut Kohl, the longest-serving postwar Western leader, died at the age of 87 on June 16.