Kohl stresses importance of EU and recalls how evil spirits of the past are not at all banished and can easily return

Derek's Scally's piece in today's 'Irish Times' on what former German federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl has to say on the EU is well worth a read.

FORMER GERMAN chancellor Helmut Kohl has said euro zone tensions have revealed that Europe is still haunted by “evil spirits of the past”.

Dr Kohl suggested the real danger to the European project was not bailouts, such as the second aid package for Greece backed by German MPs yesterday, but “faint-hearted” and “hand-wringing” politicians.

Despite the challenges and the passage of time since the end of the second World War, Dr Kohl said the original intention behind the European Union – to unite the continent in peace – remained as relevant as ever.

“A look beyond one’s nose into history shows: the evil spirits of the past are in no way banished, they can always return,” he wrote in the Bild tabloid yesterday. “That means: Europe remains a question of war and peace, and the idea of peace the motivation behind European integration.” The original visionaries of EU integration – Monnet, Adenauer and Schumann – were aware of the challenges their integration project would bring, he said, but had not allowed themselves be distracted by details or nay-sayers. That can-do attitude was lacking in today’s EU politicians, according to the chancellor of German unity.

“To those who show doubt in the crisis, I ask them: where would we be in Europe today if we had succumbed to the faint-hearted and hand-wringers and not pushed through the great European idea, against considerable opposition?” he asked.

“The future doesn’t belong to the hand-wringers – rather those with a clear goal in their eyes. We cannot allow the current discussion and the crisis situation in Greece to lose sight of a unified Europe. The opposite is the case: we need – above all now – more and not less Europe.”

It is not the first time Dr Kohl has intervened in the debate. Last year he criticised Angela Merkel – without mentioning her by name – by complaining Berlin’s EU policy left unclear “where Germany stands and where it wants to go”.

Monday’s Greek vote in the Bundestag was given a mixed reception in Germany yesterday.

Allies of Dr Merkel called it a policy success for the government; the opposition suggested the ruling coalition was showing signs of bailout fatigue after the German leader failed, for the first time, to get an absolute, “chancellor”, majority behind the latest bailout.

“Merkel’s authority has been severely damaged,” said Frank Walter Steinmeier, parliamentary leader of the opposition Social Democrats.