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Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; born 3 April 1930 ) is a German conservative politician and statesman.

He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 ( of West Germany between 1982 and 1990 and of the reunited Germany between 1990 and 1998 ) and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) from 1973 to 1998.

His 16-year tenure was the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck and oversaw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification.

Kohl is widely regarded as one of the main architects of the German reunification and, together with French President François Mitterrand, the Maastricht Treaty, which contributed to the creation of the European Union.