The German Wolfgang Schäuble, a political figure across the Rhine, has died at the age of 81

He worked on the negotiation and signing of the treaty to reunify the two Germanys in 1990, but was best known afterwards as Minister of Finance, where he embodied Berlin’s budgetary rigor in the wake of the financial crisis in the euro zone, from 2008.

He was one of the architects of the reunification of Germany in 1990. The former German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, died at the age of 81, the German press reported Wednesday, December 27. “Wolfgang Schäuble has shaped our country for more than half a century: as a member of parliament, minister and president of the Bundestag”greeted Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

“With him, Germany loses a sharp thinker, a passionate politician and a pugnacious democrat”

Olaf Sholz, German Chancellor

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Paraplegic since an attack in 1990, Wolfgang Schäuble has been one of the most notable figures in German political life over the last thirty years, ending his long career as president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2017 to 2021. In 2008, he distinguished himself as a figure of budgetary austerity during the European financial crisis linked to that of subprime mortgages.

A commitment welcomed on the French side

“Wolfgang Schäuble was a friend of France”greeted Emmanuel Macron on X. “It has made the ties between our countries stronger. He contributed to German reunification, the construction of the euro and European unity. I salute his commitment.“

“He was a friend, a loyal and reliable partner, a tireless architect of Franco-German friendship”underlined the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, who said he “deeply saddened”on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

Still on X, the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, welcomed “one of the most influential European leaders of his generation”. In 2011, he supported the candidacy of his then counterpart at the Ministry of the Economy as EU candidate to head the IMF, affirming that she was “respected and appreciated throughout the world of finance”.