Wolfgang Schäuble und die europäische Einigung

Wolfgang Schäuble’s memoirs are a first-rate historical source for German European policy, which he helped to shape as Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag from 1991 to 2000 and as Finance Minister from 2009 to 2017. They show that the call for the creation of a “core Europe” was part of a strategic concept with which he wanted to influence the policies of the chancellors – first Helmut Kohl and then Angela Merkel. During the euro crisis, he argued with Christine Lagarde and Jean-Claude Juncker for the expansion of the monetary union into an economic and financial union. During the Greek crisis, he was able to convince most of his colleagues in the Council of Finance Ministers (Ecofin) to temporarily exclude Greece from the monetary union. Finally, he supported the French President Emmanuel Macron’s pleas for stronger economic governance and an independent European defense. Each time, Schäuble encountered resistance from Angela Merkel, who pursued a less offensive, consensus-oriented line.