VI.

Economic Ascendancy

In the 1980s West Germany emerged as a leading economic power, along with Japan and the United States. West German leadership in the international arena became more prominent in the late 1980s. West Germany supported both the federation of Western Europe in the European Community (now called the European Union) and the birth of new democracies in Eastern Europe. Kohl's political coalition was confirmed in elections in 1983 and 1987. The two German republics achieved better relations with new financial and travel accords in 1984, and East German President Erich Honecker paid his first official visit to West Germany in 1987.