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Wolfgang Schäuble, the famous German politician, passes away at the age of 81

2023-12-27 14:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Wolfgang Schäuble

The very popular German politician from the ranks of the Christian Democratic Party, Wolfgang Schäuble, passed away at the age of 81. He has held very high state positions. An assassination was also carried out against him.

The former president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble, has passed away at the age of 81. The CDU politician passed away peacefully, after a long and serious illness, at home with his family on Tuesday evening around 20:00, the family said. In his long political career, Schäuble has held numerous political positions in various institutions. A real political institution is leaving the country's political scene. A politician with passion, a person who has exercised his many political duties with energy and dedication. A man who never bowed to the heavy blows of fate.

Wolfgang Schäuble (born 1942) was something of the political history of the Federal Republic of Germany itself. The CDU politician has been a member of the Bundestag without interruption since 1972. This is a record: in around 150 years of national parliamentary history, no one has achieved this before him. A life without politics was unthinkable for Schäuble.

"I'm a parliamentarian with passion," he said repeatedly. Asked in an interview how he felt about having shaped politics in the Bundestag for nearly half a century, Schäuble replied—with an enigmatic smile, twinkling eyes, and perhaps a touch of intellectual irony that was typical of him: "So you can see how much fun politics can be".

Wolfgang Schäuble: "Life is hope"

Two turning points shaped the political and private life of this man from Baden: an assassination attempt in 1990, which forced him to live in a wheelchair ever since. Ten years later he had to give up the leadership of the CDU party and with it the prospect of one day becoming chancellor. The son of a local CDU politician from Freiburg studied economics and later became a doctor of jurisprudence. Helmut Kohl, newly elected chancellor at the time, summoned him to the then seat of government in Bonn in 1984. He was appointed head of the Chancellery and thus organizer of power. In 1989, Schäuble became Minister of the Interior, as opportune political timing catapulted him into the limelight. After the fall of the Wall, he played a key role in negotiating the union treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. Just a few weeks later, on October 12, 1990, a mentally ill person shot and seriously injured Schäublen at an election rally. Since then he has been in a wheelchair - paralyzed from the third thoracic vertebra down.

Surrender was not an option for him! He didn't hesitate long. He said to himself: "I can't change fate, but I will live as long as I live." Six weeks after the attack, he gave his first press conference while sitting in a wheelchair.

The whirlwind of the CDU party donation affair

In 1998, Wolfgang Schäuble became chairman of the CDU. Chancellor Helmut Kohl repeatedly stated that he would like Schäuble to be his successor as chancellor. Things went differently. In late 1999 it became known that there were illegal party donations to the CDU and secret accounts during the time of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Only a few weeks later, Wolfgang Schäuble admitted that he had received 100,000 euros from an arms dealer for the CDU's secret funds. He resigned from the post of party chairman. It was a "hard blow", Schäuble said in an interview with NZZ.

Minister with principles

During the years when the CDU was in opposition (1998-2005), Wolfgang Schäuble focused on foreign and security policy. In the grand coalition from 2005, he first became the Minister of the Interior and then the Minister of Finance. The opposition called him "a fierce dog". For example, he supported an aviation security law that would allow for the downing of a plane that has been hijacked by terrorists. The proposal failed.

Under his watch as Minister of Finance (from 2009), the largest legal package of austerity measures in the history of the Federal Republic was passed. Wolfgang Schäuble didn't just make friends with this decision. During the euro crisis, he became an enemy of many Greeks because he imposed strict austerity discipline on the country.

The best post - Speaker of the Parliament

In October 2017, Wolfgang Schäuble became president of the Bundestag - the second man in the state. But for him it was probably the best possible solution. Wolfgang Schäuble was highly respected in this post and one of the best orators. With his sharp mind, deep understanding of German democracy and humor, he ran the Bundestag sessions like no one else.

The "passionate parliamentarian" may have found his dream position. He even for the right-wing populist and rebel AfD to respect parliamentary rules - with sharp rebuttals, reprimands and fines. But he also scolded Chancellor Angela Merkel when she spent her speaking time Schäuble was an undisputed parliamentary authority and such

that's how he remained until the end, even after the 2021 elections when he was just a "normal" member of the Bundestag. Someone like Wolfgang Schäuble could never imagine not being a member of Parliament anymore. A source of inspiration even in old age

Wolfgang Schäuble remained a fountain of ideas, a conservative political visionary, and a source of inspiration into his old age. He always sought intellectual challenges. At the beginning of 2021 he published a book entitled: "Experiences of borders - how we grow through crises". The book is something of a credo of his life as a politician. It showed Schäuble's curiosity, enjoyed the exchange of arguments and had fun with innovations. Wolfgang Schäuble also saw the corona pandemic as an opportunity to overcome "immobility" in Germany. "Many people in our country think that change is necessary," he said.

One sentence could perhaps be the leitmotif of his life: "We have the freedom to make the world we live in better, we have the freedom to do great things." Wolfgang Schäuble believed in this in his lifetime. He left behind his wife Ingeborg and four children./ DW