European leaders joined with former US president Bill Clinton at an emotional tribute in Strasbourg on Saturday for former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, the father of German reunification and a founder of modern-day Europe.
"A giant of the post-war period has left us," European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in an oration in French and German.
"Helmut Kohl was a German patriot, but he was also a European patriot," said Juncker, the only current leader in Europe to have worked alongside the iconic figure. "Helmut Kohl was not just the architect of Germany unity. He contributed substantially, more than others, to the reconciliation between European history and European geography." Kohl, who served as chancellor from 1982 to 1998, died on June 16 at age 87.
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