7 Helmut Kohl 7the Christian Social Union (CSU), but lost to the Social
Democratic Party (SDP) led by Helmut Schmidt. In 1982
many members of Schmidt’s coalition partners, the Free
Democratic Party (FDP), deserted their alliance with him.
The combined forces of the CDU, the CSU, and the FDP
defectors passed a vote of no confidence against Schmidt
in the Bundestag (West German parliament) on Oct. 1,
1982, and immediately forced him from office by giving
Kohl the required absolute majority in the ensuing vote
for a new chancellor.
The CDU-CSU-FDP coalition won a 58-seat majority
in federal elections held on March 6, 1983. Kohl’s govern-
ment went on to follow centrist policies that included
modest cuts in government spending and strong support
for West German commitments to NATO. These policies
were confirmed by victory in the federal elections of Jan.
25, 1987, although the CDU-CSU-FDP coalition held a
reduced majority of 45 seats.
As the Soviet Union abandoned its control over east-
ern Europe in 1989 – 90, Kohl led the drive for the speedy
reunification of West with East Germany. The opposition
SDP, by contrast, approached this momentous issue much
more warily. When East Germany held its first democratic
parliamentary elections in March 1990, Kohl campaigned
vigorously for the CDU’s sister parties in East Germany,
which were able to form a government committed to
reunification. In May 1990 Kohl’s government concluded
a treaty with East Germany that unified the two countries’
economic and social-welfare systems and granted East
Germany an equal exchange of their now-worthless East
German currency for the powerful deutsche mark. Kohl
worked strenuously to obtain the assent of both his NATO
allies and the Soviet Union to German reunification, and
on Oct. 3, 1990, East Germany was dissolved and its