"We do not know where we belong or where we are going," the 81-year old Kohl said in an interview with German think-tank Internationaler Politik, republished by EurActiv.de and Bild Zeitung.
The former chancellor, whose reluctance to comment publicly is well known, delivered a far-ranging and stinging attack on his country's current government.
"I would never have imagined that an American president comes to Europe and just flies over Germany," Kohl said, commenting on Barack Obama's recent trip, which did not include a stop-off in Berlin.
Germany and the US recently fell out over intervention in Libya to topple military dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
On the euro crisis he was unequivocal in saying that Germany was partially to blame for the currency's current woes and that it had a responsibility to stand by Greece.
The country has faced a moral and political dilemma since the onset of the first Greek bailout in February 2010. German voters are reluctantly watching their money being spent on Greek rescue deals, while the country's parliament is demanding a say on the terms of the loans.
Kohl seems tired of the whole debacle and argues that Merkel should stop trying to appease an angry electorate but rather explain why a Greek rescue is a necessary evil.
"It is time to draw a line under the crisis and to let Europe get on with other business."
The man credited with German reunification and fixing Franco-German relations in the EU boasts that none of Germany's recent mistakes would have happened under his leadership.
At the time of Greek accession to the single currency, he would have demanded "substantial structural reforms". He also claims he would not have broken the rules of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, a series of debt ceilings which countries either respect or expect interference from Brussels.
Germany's former socialist Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former French President Jacques Chirac are widely blamed for killing the pact's credibility when they ignored signals from the European Commission that their budget deficits surpassed the 3% threshold.
It exceeded his expectations that both the downfall of the Stability and Growth Pact and the Greek bailout debacle should happen under a Franco-German axis, Kohl remarked.
"If I had reacted to Germany's reunification with that much despondence as is the case for Greece, then it would never have happened."
COMMENTS
Finally a German statesman speaks out, loudly! Since the coalition government with the liberals got into place, chancellor Merkel's results are a disaster, not only for Germany but for all of us. In particular in Foreign Policy matters it is a complete chaos, with an incompetent minister Westerwelle of Foreign Affairs at his 'best'. Look for example at their positions concerning the ME. On the most crucial moments in modern history Germany was letting world progress down. That the Russians, Chinese and a couple of other nations still don't understand the needs of 21th is, unfortunately, a matter of fact, but the Germans.... Well, the fresh winds (f.ex. the 'Arab Spring') is sweeping over us everywhere and will force the unwilling leaders to accept reality and don't forget..good policy with reliable, long term views, always will be rewarded.
It should be recalled Mr. Kohl, that Germany has also contributed to the promotion of individualism and separation in the EU. This, f.i., has happened with the Nord Stream gas pipe, when Germany raised exclusively its own interests?
Europe is collapsing, and for other reasons. It seems to me that one of them - that most of the bureaucratic management is given to the representatives of "southern mentality". I am confident that Europe would not be stuck in such a deep hole, if European Commission President is a Finn, a Swede or a German. I must stress here that this is not national issue, but the issue related with mentality and discipline.
... Der Kompass, den Kohl bei der Betrachtung gegenwärtiger Außen- und Europapolitik vermisst, wurde für seine Generation in ganz Westeuropa durch die einende Erfahrung zweier Weltkriege eingenordet... Im 21. Jahrhundert rotieren die Kompasse führender Politiker allerorten und mit gleichermaßen beschleunigtem Drehmoment um die eigenen Achsen...
Angela Merkel, die Kohl mit seiner Anklage meinte, ohne sie beim Namen zu nennen, ist ein Beispiel für das Dilemma, in dem die Politik angesichts der Herausforderungen der Gegenwart steht. Kaum ein anderer Akteur der deutschen Politik nämlich hat die historischen Erfahrungen der alten Bundesrepublik so sehr für sich verinnerlicht wie Angela Merkel. Mit ihrem Bekenntnis zu Israel als Ausdruck deutscher Staatsraison, ihrer transatlantischen Orientierung und dem ideologiefernen Pragmatismus ihres Denkens hat sich die Kanzlerin aus Ostdeutschland als letzte Repräsentantin der Bonner Republik ausgewiesen.
Offenkundig aber genügt das in diesen Tagen nicht mehr, um der eigenen Partei die Orientierung zu vermitteln, nach der die CDU sich sehnt. Ihr Zustand erinnert am Ende dieser Woche an den der SPD in den Jahren 2003 und 2004... Weder der politische Wiedergänger Kohl, noch die einstigen Rivalen Merkels - Merz, Koch, Stoiber und auch Wulff - können angesichts der tatsächlichen Herausforderungen der Gegenwart ein konkurrierendes Orientierungsangebot formulieren.
Das gilt vor allem für die schicksalhaften Fragen, die durch die europäische Schuldenkrise gestellt sind. Eine Alternative zur stabilitätsorientierten Währungspolitik gibt es so wenig wie zur solidarischen Verteidigung des Euros gegen die unerbittliche Skepsis der Märkte. Um beides zu ermöglichen, muss die Integration Europas in einer echten Verfassungsordnung vertieft werden. Deutschland wird dafür finanzielle Opfer bringen und Verzicht durch Kompromisse und die Abgabe von Souveränitätsrechten leisten müssen.
Ob Merkel und ihre Partei die Kraft aufbringen, diesen Weg konsequent zu verfolgen, wird sich in den kommenden Wochen in der Debatte um die Ausweitung des Euro-Rettungsschirms, seine Vereinbarkeit mit dem Grundgesetz und die Mitspracherechte des Parlaments erweisen. Für Angela Merkel ist das nach wie vor die Herausforderung, aber auch die Chance, sich als Führungskraft von europäischem Rang zu beweisen.
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