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Wolfgang Schäuble as CDU leader with his newly elected General Secretary Angela Merkel at the party congress in Bonn on 7 November 1998
Photo: Michael_Jung / picture-alliance / dpa
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has reacted to the death of her party colleague Wolfgang Schäuble with "great dismay". This was announced by Merkel's office. "With his passing, Germany has lost an outstanding personality with political and programmatic foresight," said the ex-chancellor. He had the ability to "recognize and shape major political developments far beyond the day."
In the morning, it had become known that Schäuble had already died on Tuesday evening around 20 p.m. surrounded by his family. He died after a long and serious illness at the age of 81. Schäuble is survived by his wife Ingeborg and four children.
In her statement, Angela Merkel not only paid tribute to Schäuble as an "architect of German unity" and a "pioneer of German-French friendship," but also referred to their shared political career. As a young minister, Wolfgang Schäuble was my political mentor," Merkel wrote. As Federal Minister of the Interior and Federal Minister of Finance, he was one of the anchors of my first three cabinets."
Schäuble had become the party's new federal chairman after heavy losses for the CDU in the 1998 federal elections. At the same time, Angela Merkel became the party's new general secretary at the party congress in Bonn. After having already been Helmut Kohl's interior minister in the cabinet, Schäuble got this office again under Merkel from 2005 to 2009; subsequently, he was finance minister in Merkel's government until 2017.
Merkel: Schäuble "always an intellectual enrichment"
"As his general secretary during his time as chairman of Germany's CDU, I got to know him as a convinced Christian Democrat who was open and curious about new developments," Merkel wrote. Talks with Schäuble have always been "an intellectual enrichment" for her.
She also admired his "discipline," which he showed despite and with his spinal cord injury after an assassination attempt, Merkel wrote. He became a role model for millions of people."
Schäuble had been paraplegic since an attack on him in 1990 and was in a wheelchair. Merkel wrote that Schäuble's advice would be "personally missed" by her in the future. She wished Schäuble's wife Ingeborg and his children comfort, support and strength.
Scholz: "Germany is losing a sharp thinker"
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) paid tribute to Schäuble's achievements. The CDU politician has shaped Germany as a member of parliament, minister and president of the Bundestag for more than half a century. "With him, Germany has lost a sharp thinker, passionate politician and pugnacious democrat," Scholz wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "My thoughts are with his family today."
Schäuble had already joined the Young Union in the 1972s and then the CDU. In <> he won his first seat in the Bundestag, where he remained without interruption until his death. Since the <>s, he has held government posts, including as head of the Federal Chancellery during the Kohl era.
Kohl had appointed Schäuble, who had loyally supported him for years, as his successor on call, but had again run as a candidate for chancellor in the 1998 Bundestag election – Schäuble was therefore considered the "crown prince". In the course of the CDU donation scandal, Kohl and Schäuble finally fell out badly. Schäuble resigned as party leader after it was revealed that he had accepted a cash donation of 100,000 marks from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber. Kohl lost the honorary chairmanship of the party.
Schäuble later denied that there had ever been friendly relations with Kohl: "We were close political confidants, but not friends. He was Chancellor, I was a political comrade-in-arms ten years younger. Kohl had other friends."
FEK