Wolfgang Schaeuble, veteran of German politics, dies at 81
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Mr Wolfgang Schaeuble served as former chancellor Angela Merkel’s frugal finance minister during the euro zone debt crisis.
PHOTO: AFP
BERLIN - Veteran German politician Wolfgang Schaeuble, who served as a Member of the Bundestag Parliament for more than half a century, has died aged 81, ending one of Germany’s longest political careers in which he helped secure his country’s place at the heart of Europe.
Mr Schaeuble, who spent much of his career devoted to re-unifying his country and later served as former chancellor Angela Merkel’s frugal finance minister during the euro zone debt crisis, died peacefully late on Dec 26, said a spokesperson for the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) on Dec 27.
He had been a member of the CDU since 1965 and a Member of Parliament since 1972.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz mourned Mr Schaeuble’s death in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter: “Germany has lost a sharp thinker, passionate politician and pugnacious democrat.”
Similarly, CDU leader Friedrich Merz expressed his deep grief at the political veteran’s death on X. “In Wolfgang Schaeuble, I lose the dearest friend and adviser I’ve ever had in politics,” he said.
Tributes also came in from France, where Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire expressed his “profound sadness” on X.
“He was a friend, a loyal and reliable partner, and a tireless craftsman of the friendship between Germany and France,” Mr Le Maire wrote.
Once the boss of Ms Merkel before their roles were reversed, Mr Schaeuble pulled the strings of Germany’s policy response to the euro zone crisis, securing support on the right of their conservative bloc for three Greek bailouts.
In November 2015, soon after Ms Merkel opened Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants, he said the country risked “an avalanche” of refugees triggered by “careless” actions.
He subsequently defended her open-door migrant policy, however, when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) waded into the debate, accusing the far-right party of fuelling xenophobia.
Over the final years of his career, the AfD grew into a more formidable opponent of the CDU, with critics accusing the centre-right party of adopting its rhetoric on migration under Mr Merz.
Mr Schaeuble used a wheelchair since 1990 after being shot three times at an election campaign event a few days after German reunification. REUTERS
