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Berlin: Franziska Giffey (SPD) signs the book of condolence in the Red City Hall
Photo: Soeren Stache / dpa
Political Berlin will bid farewell to the deceased former Bundestag President and Federal Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) on 22 January. On this day, the Bundestag will host the funeral state ceremony ordered by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the plenary hall of the Reichstag building. Details are not yet known.
Schäuble died on Boxing Day at the age of 81 after a long and serious illness. The politician, who was born in Freiburg in 1942, was, among other things, Federal Minister of the Interior and Federal Minister of Finance, leader of the Union parliamentary group and party chairman of the CDU. He had been elected to the Bundestag by direct mandate in every election since 1972 and was the longest-serving member of parliament.
This Friday, he will be buried in his hometown of Offenburg. There will be a publicly broadcast funeral service and a funeral procession. On 22 January, the heads of the German state – above all Steinmeier – and hundreds of guests from Germany and abroad are expected to attend the Bundestag in Berlin.
eru/AFX/AFP