President Clinton last night paid generous homage to the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, singling out his leadership, vision and courage in unifying Germany and Europe and, whether wittingly or not, boosting the Chancellor's flagging re-election campaign four months ahead of a general election.
Mr Clinton used a keynote speech on Euro-Atlantic security in east Berlin to praise the Chancellor to the skies, to offer unstinting support for the single European currency, and to endorse the European integration that the German leader has pursued over almost 16 years.
Dr Kohl's challenger in the September poll, Mr Gerhard Schroder of the social democrats, sat frowning in the audience in Berlin's central Schauspielhaus concert hall, while Dr Kohl was visibly moved by the tribute almost to the point of tears.
The challenger is well ahead of Dr Kohl in the opinion polls, and while Mr Clinton's paean to "modern German leadership", on the President's third official trip to Germany, will undoubtedly do Dr Kohl no harm in the campaign, it may also eventually be seen as an emotional valedictory tribute to the Chancellor.
Ever since Charlemagne's crowning as Holy Roman Emperor in the year 800, said Mr Clinton, Europe had sought unification. "For the first time, this dream is real," said the President. "We want a Europe like Germany."
"The moment of unity did not arrive, it was made. It was made by the determination of a man," said Mr Clinton in reference to Dr Kohl's role over the past decade. Earlier in the grandiose surroundings of Frederick the Great of Prussia's 18th-century Sans-souci Palace, Mr Clinton said it was because of the German Chancellor that Europe had accomplished so much so quickly.
"The world is in your debt," he told Dr Kohl, while repeatedly reiterating his admiration for Germany's wise leadership.
Lest the US President's praise be seen as too partial an intervention in the German election campaign, Mr Clinton followed his speech with a private meeting with Mr Schroder.
Dr Kohl will now burnish his image as Germany's hugely respected international statesman and foreign policy Chancellor over the next week at the G8 summit in Birmingham and the EUUS summit in London.
Mr Clinton endorsed Turkey's ambitions to join the EU. "We will continue to encourage your steps to enlarge the EU as well, eventually to embrace all of central Europe and Turkey," he said. --(Reuters)