In more ways than one, Helmut Kohl left behind a large legacy when he departed office in 1998. His commitment to German unity was rewarded on Oct 3 1990 amidst the celebration of a reunited Germany. He was instrumental in crafting the basis of what would eventually become the euro. He was and is − at 82 − a tireless proponent of the European Union (together with his predecessor Helmut Schmidt), and he worries greatly about German doubts surrounding it. Kohl always argued that that goal of a united Europe is a matter of peace − or war if it was to fail.

The beginning of the Kohl era is history for the majority of the members of the Bundestag now. In 1982 he assumed office in a Germany with different challenges than those Chancellor Merkel faces today. His time and his decisions were forged in a framework that he saw in stark and contrasting terms. That explained his rush to secure German unification, and then almost immediately after securing that goal, he pushed Germany into a stronger embrace of Europe − in part to head off concerns among other Europeans about a united Germany.

Helmut Kohl’s sixteen years in office − bested only by Bismarck − might be matched someday by another Chancellor. But the path he took shaped Germany’s decisions then and help forge the platform on which it stands today with another set of choices and decisions. Future leaders will always stand on his shoulders.

More on the 30th anniversary of Helmut Kohl’s 16 year Chancellery:

Former Chancellor Kohl Urges Merkel to ‘Fight for Europe’, Spiegel Online

Further Analysis on the German Constitutional Court’s upcoming ruling

Gebt Souveränität ab!, von Ulrich Wilhelm. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Verfassungsnot!, von Paul Kirchhof. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He who comes too late is punished by life, by Ulrike Guérot. European Council on Foreign Relations

But Europe is not a product to buy or acquire. It is a process, an evolution, a road to somewhere yet to be defined. More Europe to Germans means something else to Italians, Britons or certainly now the Greeks. Europe, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. To some it is a common currency or a shared market, while to others it is a shared defense. And to still others it is a shared threat.

How many see Europe as a shared opportunity is unknown. It certainly was seen that way in its early decades. Yet now it is seen increasingly as a burden or as a nuisance. Twenty years ago, unification in Germany was seen as an opportunity to fulfill a long-held dream. Today, unification is taken for granted. Germans think or argue about other things that they have in common, including European burdens. Along with their counter parts, younger Germans wander freely across Europe. But they are not caught up in a mission to create more Europe as their parents were. Europe has a cost-benefit look to it. There is little emotion. Watching the Queen’s birthday celebration with thousand of Britons singing Land of Hope and Glory to her last week − that is emotion.

If more Europe is needed, it needs to be more than on a continuum of institutional structures. Europe needs more Europeans. In the United States, it was only after the Civil war in 1865 when references to the country really filled the words “we the people” with a sense that the U.S. was not a loose federation of states. It was one country, even if we still had work to do to include everyone in the “we”.

More Europe means more work at forging more “we” and meaning it.

However, the French election campaign is over. Hollande now has to put together a government, and there he will likely encounter the French version of the old saying “you campaign in poetry but govern in prose.”

While Hollande has to figure out what campaign promises he can actually keep, he also needs to speak with Merkel about which conflicts and compromises will set their agenda – one which still remains of central importance to both France, Germany and indeed the EU. The challenge both leaders face is in sustaining a sufficient domestic consensus to support a viable set of compromises with each other. Hollande did not win a landslide election and he is still awaiting the formation of a new National Assembly in June. Merkel’s conservative coalition in Berlin has been losing traction at the regional level during the past several elections and she is likely to see another setback in Germany’s biggest state – North Rhine-Westphalia – on Sunday.

Even if the parameters of their partnership have changed during the past two decades, Germany and France remain the central lynch pin of the European Union. If that pin weakens, it will increase the strains elsewhere in Europe.

Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel may be more similar in style than in substance – the reverse of Merkel and Sarkozy. That may be an advantage as they forge their own partnership. Nevertheless, they remain dependent on each other to frame the choices they face if Europe is to find its way out of the trouble it is in.

Can Merkozy morph into Merllande? French-German political pairs of party colors have worked well before.

Another old French saying might apply – “the more things change, the more they stay the same.

However, what is a more likely scenario is the FDP holding on to a presence in both state parliaments in these next elections, even if it is relegated to the opposition. The party would then have to take their chances next year.

Meanwhile, the Pirates seem to be stealing votes from several political camps, thus putting themselves in a position to shape coalition choices as well. Just as in the U.S. and elsewhere in Europe, it is the season of volatile voters. The anthem of Schleswig Holstein warns “don’t falter, my fatherland.” That may be just the concern the FDP has right now amidst rough political winds with pirate sails gaining on them.