By Erik Kirschbaum
BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Wolfgang Schaeuble, a surprise pick as Germany's new finance minister, is a hard-nosed and independent-minded political veteran who was an early critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's campaign pledge to cut taxes.
The 67-year-old tax lawyer, who party sources said on Friday had been tapped by Merkel to take over the finance ministry, has held a range of top posts in conservative-led governments in a political career spanning nearly four decades.
He is seen as one of the most talented German politicians of his generation and may have become chancellor himself had he not become ensnared in the funding scandal that damaged his Christian Democrats (CDU) and former mentor Helmut Kohl a decade ago.
Schaeuble, Merkel's no-nonsense interior minister since 2005, was not her first choice to lead the finance ministry -- probably the most important post in her cabinet given Germany's struggle to emerge from its worst post-war economic recession.
But her pick electrified German media because Schaeuble is expected to be a forceful and possibly uncomfortable presence for Merkel in a cabinet largely devoid of strong personalities.
'He's going to be a tough nut to crack -- especially for Merkel,' said one source involved in the month-long coalition talks. 'There's a lot of conflict potential.'
Schaeuble, in a wheelchair since he was shot and nearly killed by a mentally ill man at a campaign rally in 1990, has an unusual history with Merkel, with both helping and harming each other at various stages in their careers.
He humiliated Merkel, then opposition leader, in 2004 by rebuffing her request to take on the finance policy portfolio for her CDU.
And although Merkel put him in her cabinet a year later, he has not hesitated to contradict her in public when he has disagreed with her policies.
Months before the German election in September, he indirectly criticised Merkel's pledge to pursue billions of euros in tax cuts after the vote -- the central plank of her policy platform.
'Tax reform is only possible if there is room for relief. There is no such room available at the moment,' he told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper in June as the campaign heated up.
An eloquent speaker with a soft southern German accent and a brilliant party strategist, Schaeuble was a rising star under Kohl, becoming his chief of staff in 1984 and leading negotiations on German reunification after becoming interior minister in 1989 -- the year the Berlin Wall fell.
Kohl publicly anointed Schaeuble his successor in 1997 but he got tangled up on the fringes of the former chancellor's campaign finance scandal and was forced to resign as party chairman in 2000.
Merkel, then his deputy, played a key role in pushing him out. Once Schaeuble was out of the way, she assumed the leadership of the CDU herself, a key step in her unlikely climb from East German physicist to German chancellor.
Despite his long career in politics, little is known about Schaeuble's views on financial policy beyond a handful of comments he has made in interviews over the past years.
'He's a bit of an unknown quantity on finance policy,' said Dennis Snower, head of the Kiel-based Institute for the World Economy, told Reuters.
What is certain is that Schaeuble will speak his mind, without worrying about what the public thinks or where his career will go next, traits that will serve him well in the thankless task that awaits him -- reining in a German budget deficit that may be double EU limits next year.
Indeed, Merkel may have picked Schaeuble for some of the same reasons former U.S. President George W. Bush chose the ageing Dick Cheney for vice president -- he knew he would offer candid advice and had no ambitions for the top job himself.
(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum and Noah Barkin; editing by Myra MacDonald) Keywords: GERMANY COALITION/SCHAEUBLE (Reuters messaging: erik.kirschbaum.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Wolfgang Schaeuble, a surprise pick as Germany's new finance minister, is a hard-nosed and independent-minded political veteran who was an early critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's campaign pledge to cut taxes.
The 67-year-old tax lawyer, who party sources said on Friday had been tapped by Merkel to take over the finance ministry, has held a range of top posts in conservative-led governments in a political career spanning nearly four decades.
He is seen as one of the most talented German politicians of his generation and may have become chancellor himself had he not become ensnared in the funding scandal that damaged his Christian Democrats (CDU) and former mentor Helmut Kohl a decade ago.
Schaeuble, Merkel's no-nonsense interior minister since 2005, was not her first choice to lead the finance ministry -- probably the most important post in her cabinet given Germany's struggle to emerge from its worst post-war economic recession.
But her pick electrified German media because Schaeuble is expected to be a forceful and possibly uncomfortable presence for Merkel in a cabinet largely devoid of strong personalities.
'He's going to be a tough nut to crack -- especially for Merkel,' said one source involved in the month-long coalition talks. 'There's a lot of conflict potential.'
Schaeuble, in a wheelchair since he was shot and nearly killed by a mentally ill man at a campaign rally in 1990, has an unusual history with Merkel, with both helping and harming each other at various stages in their careers.
He humiliated Merkel, then opposition leader, in 2004 by rebuffing her request to take on the finance policy portfolio for her CDU.
And although Merkel put him in her cabinet a year later, he has not hesitated to contradict her in public when he has disagreed with her policies.
Months before the German election in September, he indirectly criticised Merkel's pledge to pursue billions of euros in tax cuts after the vote -- the central plank of her policy platform.
'Tax reform is only possible if there is room for relief. There is no such room available at the moment,' he told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper in June as the campaign heated up.
An eloquent speaker with a soft southern German accent and a brilliant party strategist, Schaeuble was a rising star under Kohl, becoming his chief of staff in 1984 and leading negotiations on German reunification after becoming interior minister in 1989 -- the year the Berlin Wall fell.
Kohl publicly anointed Schaeuble his successor in 1997 but he got tangled up on the fringes of the former chancellor's campaign finance scandal and was forced to resign as party chairman in 2000.
Merkel, then his deputy, played a key role in pushing him out. Once Schaeuble was out of the way, she assumed the leadership of the CDU herself, a key step in her unlikely climb from East German physicist to German chancellor.
Despite his long career in politics, little is known about Schaeuble's views on financial policy beyond a handful of comments he has made in interviews over the past years.
'He's a bit of an unknown quantity on finance policy,' said Dennis Snower, head of the Kiel-based Institute for the World Economy, told Reuters.
What is certain is that Schaeuble will speak his mind, without worrying about what the public thinks or where his career will go next, traits that will serve him well in the thankless task that awaits him -- reining in a German budget deficit that may be double EU limits next year.
Indeed, Merkel may have picked Schaeuble for some of the same reasons former U.S. President George W. Bush chose the ageing Dick Cheney for vice president -- he knew he would offer candid advice and had no ambitions for the top job himself.
(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum and Noah Barkin; editing by Myra MacDonald) Keywords: GERMANY COALITION/SCHAEUBLE (Reuters messaging: erik.kirschbaum.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.