Brussels, 01/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Marking the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Germany (3 October 1990), the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, welcomed the positive impact of this major shift in history for the European integration process. In a video message in German broadcast on the Commission's website, Barroso said that Helmut Kohl, the West German Chancellor in 1990, was right when he said that unification of Germany and unification of Europe were two sides of the same coin, and German unity has been a good thing for the evolution of Europe (http: //ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/index_en.htm). Barroso explains that Germany benefitted from the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the extension of the EU eastwards, benefitting like any other country from the political and economic expansion of the EU. (H.B./transl.fl)