Germany’s ex-Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble has died at age 81 on Wednesday, December 27.
He was known as a controversial figure in German politics who was hated by the Greeks due to his tough stance during Greece’s debt crisis. He was a minister under chancellors Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel.
For many Greeks, he became a symbol of the austerity programme imposed on Greece since 2010 to enforce repayment of its colossal debts.
Schaeuble was behind a proposal to offer Greece a five-year “time-out” from the eurozone if no credible bailout could be agreed. In the end, the overriding priority of keeping the eurozone intact trumped any talk of Grexit.
Taking all this into consideration, Schaeuble was once labelled a “bloodsucker” in Greece. According to BBC News, a “Wanted” poster also appeared in Greece once, showing Schaeuble with a Hitler moustache.
Following his death, Greece’s former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis posted on X and accused Schaeuble of having contributed to “the impoverishment of Greece.”
“History will judge him harshly, but not more harshly than those who succumbed to his destructive policies,” Mr Varoufakis wrote on X.
Source: News.com.au and BBC.
