German Ex-Finance Minister Schäuble Dies, Leaving Behind Strong Nation

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BERLIN (Worthy News) – Wolfgang Schäuble, the Christian Democratic politician who helped lead Europe’s largest economy through the worst financial challenges since World War Two, has died at the age of 81, his family said.

Schäuble was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s finance minister during the eurozone debt crisis.

The former speaker of Germany’s Bundestag parliament and finance minister was surrounded by his family when he passed away, German media reported.

As news of his death emerged, Germans recalled how the dedicated legislator, who served nationally for 51 years.

As interior minister, Schaeuble was critical in negotiating the terms of Germany’s reunification treaty signed in August 1990, after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

Schäuble eventually became Chancellor Angela Merkel’s finance minister in October 2009, shortly before revelations about Greece’s ballooning budget deficit set off a crisis that engulfed the continent and threatened to destabilize the world’s financial order.

A longtime supporter of greater European unity, he helped lead a years-long effort that aimed for deeper integration and a stricter rulebook. But Germany drew criticism for its emphasis on austerity and a perceived lack of generosity, commentators said.

ELDER STATESMAN

After eight years as finance minister, Schäuble cemented his status as an elder statesman by becoming the German parliament’s speaker, commentators said. It was the final step in a long frontline political career during which he overcame daunting setbacks.

Schäuble used a wheelchair after being paralyzed from the waist down when he was shot at an election rally in 1990, shortly after reunification.

He returned to work only a few weeks later and, the following year was credited with helping sway Germany’s parliament to move the reunited nation’s capital from Bonn to Berlin.

Schäuble remained a lawmaker until his death.

“Germany has lost a formative Christian Democrat who loved to argue and yet never lost sight of what politics is all about making life better for citizens,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in an emotionally charged statement.

“His intellect, his love of democratic debate, his conservative worldview, and his sharp rhetoric made him particularly stand out over such a long period,” Social Democrat Scholz added.

It was a long way from the war year 1942 when Wolfgang Schäuble was born in Germany’s southern city of Freiburg. Thirty years later, he became a member of parliament, serving without interruption till celebrating his last Christmas here on earth.

Schäuble leaves behind his longtime wife, Ingeborg Hensle, whom he married in 1969, and their four children, daughters Christine, Juliane, and Anna, and son Hans-Jörg.

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