Germany’s ‘Mr. Austerity’ Wolfgang Schäuble dies at 81 | DW News

The former head of the German Parliament Wolf Gang scha has died the CDU politician first entered bunis the Buist in 1972 between 1989 and 2017 Mr scha served as Minister for the interior and finance uh under Chancellor helmet Cole and Angela Mel he was known internationally for backing austerity

Measures on Germany and the rest of the EU during the Euro crisis in 2009 and 10 since an attack in 1990 he had been using a wheelchair honored right until the end one of w gang sh’s last public appearances in December 2022 marking his 50 years as a member of the German

Parliament WF gang Sho was a conservative politician of the Old Guard internationally known as Germany’s tough Finance Minister and a financial Watchdog during the Euro Zone crisis in his last political office as president of the German bundestag he was a voice of moderation but with a far-right A in Parliament Sho wasn’t

Afraid to call out the populists as is debate has rules and it is connected to the willingness to respect Democratic procedures and not denounce majority decisions that have been made as illegitimate or treacherous his tenure as Finance Minister was crucial for Germany he managed to restructure the German budget despite

The Euro crisis and accumulated no new debt the so-called black zero became a trademark of German fiscal policy under Scher he also demanded strict austerity measures within the Euro Zone which Drew harsh criticism from countries in southern Europe burdened by debt especially GRE this made Scher a hate figure in

Street protests along with Chancellor Angela Merkel and IMF Chief Christine lagard Sher repeatedly locked horns with her then Greek Finance Minister Jan despite an intense and open discussion we do not agree about what we have to do now agree sher’s rise began in the 1980s in Helmut Cole’s government as minister of

The Interior he played a significant role in drafting the German Treaty of reunification in 1990 shortly after that Sher was attacked at a campaign rally and severely injured he survived but was left paralyzed but this didn’t hold him back after only 3 months he returned to work Wang sh’s police political fate was

Inextricably linked with Helmut K he was extremely loyal to his mentor yet he eventually broke with him over the conservative party’s funding Scandal that finished hmut K’s career Sher then Allied himself with Angela M the new force in the CDU first he became her interior Minister then Finance Minister in

2009 the Eurozone crisis would become his biggest challenge I enjoy politics so a big challenge is something the people like me enjoy facing Wang Sher had a lasting influence on German and international politics despite the blows to his personal and political life he always remained fully committed to his duties DW’s Chief political

Correspondent Nina haza joined us now for more Nina tell us more about how Wolf Gang Scher shaped German politics well I think it’s not exaggerated to say that vk’s Hess death truly marks the end of an era in German politics vkang held all the important jobs you can have

Within German politics with the exception of Chancellor and German president but he was party group leader of the CDU the conservatives party leader he was also a member of several government cabinets under chancellors Co and Merkel as interior Minister and later as Finance Minister for many years

He became a politician at a young age entered bundestag U the German Parliament for the first time more than 50 years ago and was a member until his death that meant he was the longest serving Member of Parliament he was also the president of the parliament for 4

Years until 2021 that is the second most important role within the German state so V gang sh is definitely leaving a very big Legacy here in Germany because he was in influential positions during crucial periods in all those decades so he was as belonging to the more

Conservative wing of his party he but he was respected across the board also by political opponents right until the end but he was also not uncontroversial especially abroad so with so many accomplishments to his name what is sh most likely to be remembered for Nina I think the first thing

Internationally that people will associate with the name WF gang sh is that he was probably the archetype of a German Finance Minister he held that post for eight years in that crucial period for the Euro zone so that group of countries that share the the currency

The Euro from 2009 to 2017 he stood for strict Public Finance policies and balanced spending with not too much debt and the Euro Zone crisis in the years from 20 20091 onwards saw him labeled as Mr austerity and he became a much known and disliked figure in Greece above all

When he insisted on austerity programs in southern European countries arguing that was necessary to keep Greece and others in that common Zone and the second thing he will be most remembered for abroad is his role in German reunification after the collapse of the Soviet Union because in his position as

Interior minister in that time he was the main figure for Western Germany to negotiate the reunification treaty Nina thank you very much that was our political correspondent nah Hass

Former German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has died. The CDU politician first entered the Bundestag in 1972. Between 1989 and 2017 Mr Schäuble served as minister for the Interior and Finance under Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel. As finance minister, he was known internationally for backing austerity measures on Germany and the rest of the EU during the Euro crisis in 2009 and 2010. He was left partially paralysed after an attack in 1990.

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13 comments

  6. I am a Portuguese citizen and my country's was under some of those austerity measures he advocated.
    Love him or hate him, I would rather have Mr. Schauble running my country's finances than the ones that brought Portugal to its knees and are still condemning it to perpetual poverty and misery.

    Germany should be proud of this man.

  7. Very short term thinking. His constant push for austerity instead of investment is one of the big reasons Germany is in a financial crunch now. Although he was a committed Trans-Atlanticist, so bravo for that.

  10. This man’s political career had nothing creative to show other than horizontal taxes and pay cuts. His acts affected many mainly the middle and lower class of course cause his intention was never to touch the rich (banks and lobbies) and dismantled the true bonds between european countries.

  13. Austerity is an economic policy that as "rescue policy" has never worked in economic history. Not least because it often translates into cutting back on social welfare, health care, education, not overprofits of banks or multinationals, or taxing the super-rich.

    You cannot have development if you cut people's ability to live, and therefore to buy and consume. It is very simple.

    It is expansive policies and investments that generate profit. Look at Italy in the last three years with incentive policies on construction, subsidies for poverty and so on.

    GDP has grown consistently 6,7% (2021) and 3.7% (2022) in the last 3 years. Public debt has been reduced.

    Now it is back to austerity and there is a return to growth of 0.5-0.7.

    But Germany itself has the same problems. The banks are full of money, but the infrastructures are still decades old. The DB saga is an obvious example.

    I can only think of Greece and the Greeks who have paid the consequences of the demented calculations of powerful investment banks, these then bailed out, on their skin.

    In addition, they have had to endure the austerity policies for which even Juncker, or whatever it's his name, apologised years later.

    A state of 10 million inhabitants, they could have been saved with one finger, but instead they received the solidarity of the rich.

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