"If you know how important Notre-Dame is to the French - whether they are believers or not, whether they postulate the separation of church and state or not - then it also becomes clear how important it is to the French that Germany was involved in the reconstruction," said Laschet in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA) published on Sunday.
As NRW Minister President, Laschet was strongly committed to the reconstruction of Notre-Dame. He explained that the fact that the Kölner Dombauhütte restored four damaged windows of the cathedral was a sign of great "European trust". It was important to him to make a "visible, symbolic contribution".
The Paris cathedral will reopen on 7 and 8 December after opening its doors for the first time in over five years on Friday. Notre-Dame was badly damaged by a fire in April 2019.
Central to the church and the nation
France and Germany were "very closely linked, even in one country under Charlemagne", added Laschet: "That stands for core Europe."
A church fire in Eastern Europe, for example, would have been "just as terrible", "but simply further away than Notre-Dame". Nevertheless, the politician emphasised that he would like to see similar efforts in such a case.
Notre-Dame is not only a Catholic church, "but also of central importance for the nation of France. Central not only in the "spiritual, cultural, but also in the geographical sense", said Laschet.
Every road sign in France that shows the distance to Paris is calculated with Notre-Dame as the centre. In this respect, the fire had struck "the heart of a nation".