Wolfgang Schäuble is dead
Former CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble slept peacefully at home with his family around 8pm on Tuesday.
Bundestag Member since 1972: Former German Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble dies aged 81.
Photo: Kay Nietfeldt (Keystone)
Former German President Wolfgang Schäuble died, the CDU politician peacefully at home with his family around 8pm on Tuesday, the family told a German press agency on Wednesday. We did one of his last big interviews with him: “Putin – ironically – will help Europe find itself.”.
During his long political career, Schäuble was a minister, CDU leader, CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader and president of the German Bundestag. No one has been a Member of Parliament longer than him.
Schäuble was born on September 18, 1942 in Freiburg (now Baden-Württemberg). He studied law but was initially drawn to politics. He joined the CDU in 1965. In 1972 he received his mandate to the Bundestag for the first time, where he served without interruption until his death.
Decades of German politics are associated with the name Schäuble. Under Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU), he was initially Federal Chancellor and Federal Minister for Special Affairs, and from 1989 to 1991 Federal Minister of the Interior.
Resigned after cash donation of 100,000 marks
Schäuble helped negotiate a reunification agreement in the GDR after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since the assassination attempt on him by a mentally ill person in October 1990, Schäuble has been confined to a wheelchair, but his political career has continued. From 1991 to 2000 he chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. After the Christian Democrats lost power in 1998, Schäuble became party leader as part of a reorganization of the CDU. Angela Merkel became General Secretary.
Schäuble resigned as CDU leader in February 2000 after the turmoil over the CDU donation affair and reports of a 100,000 mark cash donation. Merkel became party leader, and in 2005, as chancellor, she replaced Schäuble as interior minister and, four years later, finance minister. Schäuble served two terms and created a “black zero”, meaning a federal budget with no new debts.
After the 2017 federal election, Schauble was elected as the head of the Bundestag, the state's second-highest office, succeeding Norbert Lammert. Schäuble was denied the highest post of state, the federal president.
After the 2021 federal election, which the CDU/CSU lost, Schäuble stepped down from the leadership committees. In the Bundestag, SPD politician Bärbel Bas became president, while Schäuble was now a member of parliament. In his speech as Senior President – the longest serving M.P. – He encouraged outspoken and confident MPs.
An alliance with the Green Party was called for early on
In his party, Schuble was one of the most conservative politicians; Behind the scenes, his words always carried weight. On the other hand, he called on the CDU earlier than others to be open to a coalition with the Greens. As early as 2007 he told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”: “Black-green is not our choice, but it is a choice for the Union.” In the 2021 presidential campaign, Schäuble joined then CDU leader Armin Laschet against CSU leader Markus Söder. Lachet lost the election against Olaf Scholes (SPD).
Politics also played a frequent role in Schäuble's personal life. Father Karl Schäuble was already a CDU politician and member of the Baden state parliament. Schauble's younger brother Thomas was also a politician; He was Minister of State in Baden-Württemberg for 13 years. He died of a heart attack in 2013.
CDU top politician Thomas Strobl is son-in-law of Wolfgang Schäubl, daughter Christine, ARD program director and Strobl's wife. He leaves behind four children and his wife Ingeborg, with whom he had been married since 1969.
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