Germany’s constitution – first adopted in West Germany in 1949 – lays out a striking vision, stating the country’s “resolve to preserve its national and political unity and to serve the peace of the World as an equal partner in a united Europe.” With the division of Germany considered a microcosm of the broader European split during the Cold War, German reunification seemed possible only in the context of an integrated Europe – a point that Chancellor Helmut Kohl emphasized in the debates of 1990, as reunification beckoned.