Berlin, Dec 27 (EFE). – Germany awoke on Wednesday to the news of the death of Wolfgang Schäuble, who will be remembered for his active role in the Unification Treaty that gave way to the reunification of the country in 1990, during Helmut Kohl’s government, and his tenacious defense of austerity during Angela Merkel’s government.
“Wolfgang Schäuble shaped our country for more than half a century: as a member of parliament, minister and president of the Bundestag. With him, Germany has lost a sharp thinker, a passionate politician and a militant democrat,” wrote the chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, in a first reaction on X (Twitter).
His death “marks the end of an impressive and long political career,” he added later in a statement.
In a letter to Schäuble’s widow, Ingeborg, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his “dismay” and “sadness” at the death of “an extraordinary person” and a “passionate politician,” a “born homo politicus,” who reaped “historic successes” for Germany.
Schäuble, born in 1942 in Freiburg in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, was one of the most prominent politicians in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he joined in 1965.
He shaped federal politics for decades and was the longest-serving member of the Bundestag, where he first won a seat in 1972.
From the 1980s, he served in the federal government as Federal Minister for Special Affairs (1984-1989), Federal Minister of the Interior (1989-1991) and (2005-2009), and Federal Minister of Finance (2009-2017).
In 1990, he was the victim of an attack at a CDU election rally in his district, which raised fears for his life and left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair, but he resumed his political activity.
Between 1991 and 2000, he was chairman of the conservative bloc of the CDU and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) in the Bundestag, and between 1998 and 2000, he was also chairman of his party after Kohl lost the chancellery in 1998 to the Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder.
The scandal of the Christian Democratic Party’s secret accounts led him to resign as party chairman and break with Kohl.
In the Merkel government, he again served as Minister of the Interior from 2005 to 2009 and as Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2017.
As finance minister, he was characterized by a conservative and sustainable fiscal policy, which he also defended against fierce opposition in the eurozone.
In 2014, Schäuble achieved the so-called “black zero” for the first time in decades, meaning that the federal budget remained in the black without incurring new debt.
In southern Europe, and especially in Greece, Schäuble became a hated figure during the eurozone crisis for his austerity measures, his insistence on compliance with rules and agreements, and his sometimes sarcastic humor.
After the 2017 general election, he was elected president of the Bundestag, the second-highest position in the state after the president.
After the defeat of the conservative bloc in the 2021 parliamentary elections, Schäuble retired from all government bodies and became a deputy.
Recently, he had been withdrawing from the public scene to spend more time with his family – he leaves behind three daughters and a son, as well as four grandchildren – especially after his wife, Ingeborg, suffered a serious injury last summer.
Schäuble died late Tuesday afternoon in his home surrounded by his family at the age of 81, the media reported Wednesday.
According to the newspaper “Bild” and echoed by the rest of the media, the politician had been suffering from cancer for years, but he had kept it a secret and only his family and his closest circle of friends knew of the seriousness of his illness. EFE
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