Theo Waigel
| Theo Waigel | |
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Theo Waigel in 2012
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Federal Minister of Finance Germany
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In office 21 April 1989 – 27 October 1998 |
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| Preceded by | Gerhard Stoltenberg |
| Succeeded by | Oskar Lafontaine |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Theodor Waigel 22 April 1939 Ursberg, Germany |
| Nationality |
Germany
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| Political party | Christian Social Union (CSU) |
| Alma mater | University of Würzburg |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Theodor "Theo" Waigel (born 22 April 1939) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).
Waigel is a lawyer, and earned a doctorate in 1967. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1972 to 2002. He served as Federal Minister of Finance of Germany in the Cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl from 1989 to 1998, and as Chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria from 1989 to 1999. He is known as the father of the Euro, the European currency. He played a vital role in its introduction as German Minister of Finance. He also managed to impose an austerity program on West Germans and overcome the massive deficits of German unification to meet the strict fiscal benchmarks mandated by Europe's single currency. In 2009, he was appointed Honorary Chairman of the CSU.
Waigel was born as the son of a small-time farmer from the Swabian village of Oberrohr. When he was 6, his older brother, August, was killed in France during World War 2.
Waigel first became a Member of the German Bundestag in the 1972 federal elections. From 1980 to 1982, he served as spokesperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on economic affairs. He was the group’s deputy chairman from 1982 until 1989. In this capacity, he also served as the leader of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians.
In a 1989 cabinet reshuffle, Chancellor Helmut Kohl named Waigel as new Federal Minister of Finance, replacing Gerhard Stoltenberg. During his time in office, his state secretaries included leading economists Horst Köhler (1990-1993) and Jürgen Stark (1995-1998), among others.
During his time in office, Waigel oversaw the early economic integration of East Germany after the fall of Communism. He not only had to impose enormous new taxes on the German public, but he also had to keep the country's budget deficit from ballooning while Germany was spending $150 billion a year to rebuild the east.
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Wikipedia