(LtoR) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble talks with Lithuanian
Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius before the start of an Economic and
Financial Affairs Council meeting at the EU Headquarters in Brussels on
December 10, 2013. AFP PHOTO/JOHN THYS
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the
most experienced member of the German cabinet, has served as Chancellor
Angela Merkel's right-hand man in battling the eurozone crisis.
His
uncompromising demands for often painful reforms in return for rescue
loans have earned him both admirers and enemies, but few underestimate
the intellect and policy grasp of the trained lawyer and government
veteran.
The 71-year-old is one of Merkel's most
trusted and loyal allies, and her most seasoned cabinet member. He has
held five ministerial offices since 1994 and been a member of parliament
for more than 40 years.
It was under former
conservative leader Helmut Kohl that the pro-European Schaeuble forged
his career, rising through the ranks to eventually become Kohl's chief
of staff and one-time heir apparent.
He has been
confined to a wheelchair since an assassination attempt by a deranged
man in 1990, the same year he oversaw Germany's joyful national
reunification.
Political wilderness
Schaeuble
nearly sacrificed his career in a slush-fund scandal that shattered
Kohl's reputation. But after a period in the political wilderness, he
made a comeback in 2002.
While Merkel refused to back
Schaeuble in 2004 for the role of federal president -- instead picking
former head of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Koehler -- he
became interior minister the following year.
Schaeuble
did not have an easy time in the position and was criticised by civil
liberties groups for curbing rights in response to the threat of
extremist attacks.
However, Merkel rewarded him in
October 2009 when she tapped him for the more high-profile finance
ministry. At the time, Schaeuble told reporters he was "stunned" by the
appointment.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble (C) arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery
in Berlin on June 12, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN
Schaeuble
was born in Freiburg in southwestern Germany in 1942 as the son of
another conservative politician. He is bookish with a dry wit and is
married and has four children.
While he never
officially said so, Schaeuble was believed to have ambitions to become
head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers in 2012, but
eventually turned the job down in face of strong reservations in a
number of European countries.
Schaeuble has never been soft on other Europeans.
Describing
himself as "pitiless" in his management of Germany's public purse, he
shows the same exactitude towards his partners, campaigning for tight
fiscal discipline and insisting on stringent conditions for any
contribution that Berlin made to bailouts.
His
disability has repeatedly been the source of health problems, but
Schaeuble continued to run the finance ministry from his hospital bed in
2010.
Schaeuble's relations with Merkel have been stormy in the past, but both benefit from each other.
The
chancellor "needs someone like Schaeuble who opposes utopian tax
cuts... he needs someone like Merkel who supports him," said the
political magazine Cicero.
Most honest man
His
biographer Peter Schuetz calls him the "most honest man" he knows,
"even if he's not always the most charming." At a 2010 news conference
Schaeuble publicly humiliated his spokesman who then resigned.
The daily Berliner Zeitung complains about his "interminable" rambling monologues.
The
weekly Die Zeit praised his analytical skills as out of the ordinary,
even if his "knowledge of people is less so," referring to his erstwhile
support for Kohl.
Many think of Schaeuble as the man
who could have been chancellor. Schuetz wrote in his biography that
Schaeuble's "central weakness (is) that he lacks the egotism needed to
reach the summit".
No comments :
Post a Comment