Theo Waigel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Theo Waigel
Waigel in 2019
Leader of the Christian Social Union
In office 16 November 1988 – 16 January 1999
Preceded by	Franz Josef Strauß
Succeeded by	Edmund Stoiber
Federal Minister of Finance
In office 21 April 1989 – 27 October 1998
Chancellor	Helmut Kohl
Preceded by	Gerhard Stoltenberg
Succeeded by	Oskar Lafontaine
Bundestag First Deputy Leader of the CDU/CSU Group
In office 4 November 1982 – 16 November 1988
Leader	Alfred Dregger Wolfgang Schäuble
Preceded by	Friedrich Zimmermann
Succeeded by	Wolfgang Bötsch
Member of the Bundestag for Neu-Ulm
In office 3 October 1976 – 17 October 2002
Preceded by	Leo Wagner
Succeeded by	Georg Nüßlein
Personal details
Born	Theodor Waigel (1939-04-22) 22 April 1939 (age 86) Ursberg, Bavaria, Deutsches Reich
Political party	Christian Social Union (CSU)
Alma mater	University of Würzburg
Profession	Lawyer

Theodor Waigel (born 22 April 1939) is a German politician. He was a member of the Bundestag (Germany's parliament) from 1976 to 2002, representing the area of Neu-Ulm.

Waigel is a lawyer who earned his doctorate degree in 1967. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of Finance from 1989 to 1998 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. He also led the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), a political party, from 1988 to 1999. Waigel is often called the "father of the Euro" because he played a very important part in creating Europe's common currency. As Finance Minister, he also helped Germany manage its money during the time of German reunification. In 2009, he was made an Honorary Chairman of the CSU.

Theo Waigel's Early Life

Theo Waigel was born on April 22, 1939. His father was a small farmer from a village called Oberrohr in Swabia, Germany. When Theo was six years old, his older brother, August, sadly died in France during World War 2.

Theo Waigel: A Member of Parliament (Bundestag)

Waigel first became a Member of the German Bundestag (a member of parliament) for Neu-Ulm in the 1972 federal elections. From 1980 to 1982, he spoke for the CDU/CSU group in parliament on money matters. He then became the group's deputy leader from 1982 to 1989. During this time, he also led the CSU members in the Bundestag.

Theo Waigel: Germany's Finance Minister

In 1989, Chancellor Helmut Kohl chose Waigel to be the new Federal Minister of Finance. He took over from Gerhard Stoltenberg. During his time as Finance Minister, important economists like Horst Köhler and Jürgen Stark worked with him.

Helping Germany Reunite

As Finance Minister, Waigel was in charge of bringing the economies of East and West Germany together after the fall of Communism. This was a huge task. He had to introduce new taxes for Germans. He also had to stop the country's budget (money spent by the government) from getting too high. Germany was spending about $150 billion a year to rebuild the eastern part of the country.

In March 1990, Waigel announced that the government was thinking about a plan for East German money. The idea was to exchange one West German mark for every two East German marks. Many East Germans protested this plan. Chancellor Helmut Kohl then said that this was not the final policy.

On May 19, 1990, Waigel and his East German partner signed a treaty. This agreement meant their economies would join, and the West German mark would become the only money in both parts of Germany by July 2, 1990.

In July 1990, Waigel traveled to Moscow with Chancellor Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. They met with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Their goal was to convince him to allow a united Germany to be part of NATO.

On August 9, 1990, Waigel announced that West Germany's 1990 budget would be its last. He said they would create one budget for all of Germany after unification. Later that year, he said that the government would need to borrow a lot of money. The amount would be nearly five times what West Germany borrowed in 1989. Between 1989 and 1991, the government's budget deficit (spending more than it earns) grew a lot.

In February 1991, the government agreed to a large package of tax increases. This included a 7.5 percent extra charge on personal income and company taxes. These taxes helped pay for reunification, Germany's help in the Gulf War, and aid to Eastern European countries. In March 1992, Germany paid its last part of the Gulf War aid to the United States.

Waigel also argued that Germany could not afford to build a new capital city in Berlin. He thought the country had already taken on enough big financial costs.

In early 1996, Waigel and his French partner started a plan to help the economy. It aimed to encourage spending, increase growth, cut business taxes, and reduce unemployment. However, later, both the CDU and CSU parties wanted to increase taxes. They were worried about making more budget cuts. By 1997, Germany had a record 2.2 trillion marks in public debt. Much of this debt grew during Waigel's time because of the costs of reunification.

Working with Other Countries on Money Matters

Soon after becoming Finance Minister, Waigel talked with other G7 leaders. The G7 is a group of seven major countries. They discussed how much voting power each country should have in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They agreed that Japan and West Germany would share the second-highest rank. By 1991, Waigel pushed for the Soviet Union to be included in the IMF.

In 1991, Waigel became the first chairman of the board for the new European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Caring for the Environment and Energy

Waigel helped create the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) in 1990. This foundation used money from selling a steel company to help the environment.

After Germany and France could not get the G7 to agree on nuclear power plant safety, Waigel promised public money. This money would not just fix dangerous plants. It would also help these countries change their energy policies. The goal was to save energy, find new energy sources, and close unsafe plants.

Introducing the Euro Currency

Under the leadership of Chancellor Kohl and Waigel, creating a common currency became very important for Germany. It was key to joining Europe more closely, both politically and economically.

In 1992–93, there were many attacks on the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). This was when people tried to make the French franc's value drop against the German mark. Waigel worked closely with his French partner and fought against these attacks. They sold German marks until the traders gave up.

Throughout the 1990s, Waigel worked to assure Germans that the new currency would be as stable as the Deutsche Mark. The Deutsche Mark was a symbol of Germany's strong economy at the time. In September 1995, Waigel suggested that countries using a single currency should have strict rules about budget deficits. He also proposed financial penalties for countries that broke these rules. Also in September 1995, Waigel first suggested "Euro" as the name for the new single currency. He convinced the French government, who wanted to use the name ECU. The name "Euro" was later chosen for the new currency.

In 1996, Waigel pushed for Germany to pay less money to the budget of the European Union. He wrote to Chancellor Kohl, explaining that Germany paid about 60 percent of the EU's regional funds. He urged Kohl to push for Germany to pay less. In 1998, he joined other finance ministers in asking the President of the European Commission to limit how much of a country's income goes to the EU.

Waigel tried to get the head of the German central bank to quickly revalue Germany's gold reserves. This would have helped Germany meet the rules for the single currency. However, his attempt failed. On June 4, 1997, he faced a vote against him in parliament, but he won by a small margin.

In November 1997, Waigel put in place the strictest budget freeze in Germany's history. This was a last effort to meet the rules for the Euro. The freeze lasted until the end of that year and saved the government a lot of money.

On June 30, 1998, Waigel attended the opening of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. He was there with Chancellor Kohl and other important leaders.

His Role in Bavarian Politics

In May 1993, Waigel announced he would leave national politics. He planned to run for the leader of Bavaria against his rival, Edmund Stoiber. This was a difficult struggle. In the end, he did not win the leadership but stayed as the party leader. In late 1995, Waigel was re-elected to lead the CSU party.

After the 1998 elections, Oskar Lafontaine took over from Waigel as Finance Minister. At that time, Waigel had been Germany's longest-serving Finance Minister after World War II.

By the late 1990s, Waigel and Edmund Stoiber were in a strong competition for control of Bavaria and the CSU party. Stoiber had strongly criticized the idea of a single European currency. He also made Kohl and Waigel angry by suggesting that rich states like Bavaria should not have to pay for social security costs for poorer states. In late 1998, Stoiber became the chairman of the CSU, taking over from Waigel.

What Theo Waigel Did After Politics

After he retired from politics, Waigel held many different jobs, both paid and unpaid. Some of these included:

• Honorary Consul for Liechtenstein
• Member of the Supervisory Board for an insurance company
• Member of the Board of Directors for AccorHotels
• Member of the Advisory Board for Alcatel
• Chairman of the Advisory Board for Deutsche Vermögensberatung (DVAG)
• Member of the Advisory Board for Emerson Electric
• Member of the Supervisory Board for Fendt (since 2007)
• Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Augsburg
• Member of the Board of Trustees for the Institute for Bavarian History
• Member of the Board of Patrons for the Institute of the Regions of Europe
• Member of the Board of Trustees for the Eugen Biser Foundation
• Member of the Board of Executives for the Hanns Seidel Foundation
• Member of the Board of Executives for the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)

In 2008, after problems with a company called Siemens, Waigel was chosen to oversee the company for four years. He was the first person not from the U.S. to have this role. He worked in this position from 2009 to 2012.

In 2011, Waigel was part of the group trying to get the 2018 Winter Olympics to Munich.

In 2012, Waigel joined a new group at Deutsche Bank. This group was set up to review how the company paid its employees and how it was managed.

Even after his political career, Waigel was a CSU representative for choosing the President of Germany in 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2022.

In 2013, Waigel was offered the job of president of a football club, TSV 1860 Munich, but he decided not to take it. In 2015, he turned down offers to join a group advising FIFA on reforms.

From 2016 to 2022, Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed Waigel to a three-person panel. This panel made sure that a new law was followed. The law required senior German officials to wait a certain time before taking a job in business after leaving the government.

In 2017, Airbus appointed Waigel to an independent panel. This panel looked into claims of fraud and corruption in the company. In 2021, he was chosen to co-lead an expert group. This group was set up by an audit firm to check its involvement in the Wirecard scandal.

Theo Waigel's Family Life

From 1966 to 1993, Waigel was married to Karin Waigel, and they had two children. Since 1994, he has been married to Irene Epple, who was an Olympic alpine skier. They have one child together.

Images for kids

• 

  Waigel (right) with Erwin Huber in 1989

See also

• Theo Waigel para niños (in Spanish)