Certainly it was German politican a mastermind and undisputedly one of the outstanding minds in German history. No one has been a member of parliament longer than him, and he was sometimes called a “perpetual member of parliament”. He has been a member of the Bundestag without interruption since 1972.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the minister for all emergencies
Schäuble, from Baden, was minister four times, for the first time in 1984 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, most recently finance minister in the grand coalition. In 1998 he became Helmut Kohl’s preferred successor as head of government – but that didn’t happen. The Union loses the election.
The following CDU donation scandal also affected him; under the pressure of ever new revelations about a cash donation of 100,000 marks, Schäuble resigned as chairman of the party and parliamentary group in February 2000. Angela Merkel takes over the scepter, alongside whom he continues to be involved in federal politics.
Once a representative, always a representative
Unlike the Chancellor, Schäuble will not leave politics in 2021 after the Union’s loss of power and will run for office again Bundestag. He was a member there until his death on December 26th.