Carmen Valero Berlin

Berlin

Updated Monday, January 22, 2024-17:48

"Germany has lost a statesman, Europe has lost a pillar and France has lost a friend."

These were the words with which the French president,

Emmanuel Macron

, honored Wolfgang Schaeuble this Monday at a state funeral in which

Chancellor Olaf Scholz only acted as an extra

.

The static role of the chancellor in the act of mourning for one of the politicians who has most influenced German politics in recent decades symbolizes

the paralysis of Franco-German relations

and the ease with which Scholz delegates to remain in the background.

With Macron as the main speaker, the State ceremony, with

nearly 1,500 guests

surrounding the family, all of them representatives of the different levels of the State, personalities, friends and diplomats, became the farewell of a European who opted for friendship with France.

Wolfgang Schäuble

died on December 26, 2023

at the age of 81 and was buried in Offenburg, his hometown, on January 5.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician

held a seat in the Bundestag for more than five decades

.

He was a minister several times and at the end of his career he became president of the Bundestag, where his funeral was held after a religious service in the Berlin Cathedral.

Macron gave his speech partially in German, after a few words from the president of the Bundestag and an emotional intervention from the leader of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, to whom he was his best friend and mentor.

And also her ally against former Chancellor Angela Merkel, known in the CDU for getting rid of those who posed a threat to her and both Schaeuble and Merz overshadowed her.

Merkel did not attend Schaeuble's funeral

as the "mother" of the political family to which she belonged, although the entire CDU went to the church.

In her place,

Merkel reserved a seat at the state funeral

and the right to remain silent about the person who was her minister so many times.

Only Macron's references and the television cameras that broadcast the event live attested to her presence before the general public.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel applauds during Macron's speech.CLEMENS BILANEFE

Macron spoke of how Schäuble learned French and became enthusiastic about Albert Camus, of how he vehemently represented the interests of Germany, although he was aware that

Europe's success could only be achieved together with the other States

.

For the French president, Schäuble belonged to the "generation of builders", who together with the "founding fathers" such as Jacques Delors, Helmut Schmidt and Konrad Adenauer made the "reconciliation" of the continent possible.

He added that Schäuble is therefore inscribed in the "fresco of collective history" of Europe.

Macron also alluded to the German politician's role as Finance Minister during the euro crisis, where his staunch defense of austerity "was not always understood in Europe."

Merz highlighted in his speech how Schäuble represented his native Offenburg as a parliamentarian for 14 terms and emphasized his legacy as a parliamentarian and as a politician.

"He was president of the Bundestag, head of the party, president of the parliamentary group, minister. He suffered political and personal blows," said the president of the German lower house, Bärbel Bas, in reference to the attack that left him in a wheelchair. in 1991.

"

He learned

the political trade

from those who rebuilt our democracy

. He did not take it for granted, he knew it had to be defended," Bas stressed.

At the Berlin Cathedral, Lutheran Bishop Kirsten Fehrs remembered Schaeuble as an "

imposing anti-populist

, like

the ones we need in these times

."