Theo Waigel

Theo Waigel, 2019

Theodor "Theo" Waigel (born April 22, 1939 in Oberrohr ) is a German politician ( CSU ). He was Federal Minister of Finance from 1989 to 1998 and CSU Chairman from 1988 to 1999. Theo Waigel was elected honorary chairman of the CSU at the party conference on July 18, 2009.

Life and work

Waigel is the son of bricklayer foreman and part-time farmer August Waigel in Oberrohr near Krumbach. His older brother died in World War II in 1944 at the age of 18 . After graduating from high school in the Swabian town of Krumbach , Waigel began studying law and political science in Munich in 1959 and later in Würzburg , which he completed in 1963 with the first state examination in law. In 1967 the second state examination followed as well as his doctorate to Dr. iur. with the work The constitutional order of the German in particular the Bavarian agriculture . After working as a court assessor at the public prosecutor's office at the Munich District Court I , Waigel moved to the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance in 1969 as a personal assistant to State Secretary Anton Jaumann . From 1970 to 1972 he held the same position at the Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs and Transport Jaumann.

Theo Waigel (right) with Erwin Huber , 1989

After his political activity, Waigel u. a. on the advisory board of Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG (DVAG) and EnBW . He also advised the venture capital company Texas Pacific Group and PR consultancy Brunswick Group. From 1999 to 2002, during his time as a member of the Bundestag, he had a consulting contract with the media entrepreneur Leo Kirch .

In 2004 Waigel became chairman of the supervisory board of the slot machine manufacturer Löwen Entertainment , formerly NSM-Löwen Entertainment GmbH. His successor was Franz Wohlfahrt .

On behalf of US authorities, Waigel became an anti-corruption officer ( compliance monitor ) at the technology group Siemens in January 2009 . Waigel was the first non-American to be appointed as an independent monitor by US authorities. As such, he reported, among others, the United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC . In the USA, this monitoring of a company's compliance processes is a common component of an agreement in criminal proceedings. Obliging a monitor was a requirement of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the course of settling a case against Siemens. In November 2011, Waigel announced that he would be stepping down from his position at Siemens at the end of fiscal year 2012. In October 2012 Waigel submitted his final report and finished his work at Siemens.

The patronage for the first Alpine World Ski Championships of the Deaf in Nesselwang in Allgäu from February 23 to March 2, 2013 Waigel, together with his wife Irene Epple taken.

Waigel is a Catholic and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eugen Biser Foundation . In his youth he volunteered in the Catholic rural youth movement (KLJB) .

His first marriage was from 1966 to 1993 with Karin Waigel (1939–2018), a graduate economist, with whom he has two children. In his second marriage, he has been married to the former ski racer and doctor Irene Epple-Waigel since November 26, 1994 and has one child with her.

Waigel is a lawyer (as a so-called Of Counsel ) in the Munich law firm Waigel Rechtsanwälte, which was founded in January 2016 and in which his son Christian is a partner. He is also Honorary Consul of the Principality of Liechtenstein .

Theo Waigel at a F. J. Strauss exhibition at the Bavarian State Representation in Bonn, 1990

Political career

Political party

Waigel has been a member of the CSU since 1960 . From 1971 to 1975 he was state chairman of the Junge Union in Bavaria. From 1973 to 1988 he was also chairman of the Policy Commission of the CSU. From 1970 he was a member of the CSU state executive committee and since 1983 of the CSU presidium. In 1987/88 he was district chairman in the CSU district of Swabia. From November 1988 to January 1999 he was chairman of the CSU . In the 1998 Bundestag elections , the CSU in Bavaria received only 47.7% of the vote and thus remained below the election target of 50% + x. Waigel announced that he would not run again as CSU chairman at the CSU party conference on January 16, 1999. The then Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber succeeded Waigel as party leader.

At the party congress on July 18, 2009 Waigel was elected honorary chairman of the CSU. As such he is co-opted to the CSU board .

On August 8, 2013, the CSU announced that Waigel was developing a "Code of Conduct for CSU Politicians" on behalf of the CSU. Waigel presented this in December 2013.

MP

From 1966 to 1972 he was a member of the Krumbach district council , and from 1972 to 2002 a member of the German Bundestag . From 1978 to 1980 he held the position of chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the economic committee. From December 1980 to October 1982 Waigel was chairman of the economics working group and economic policy spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group. In October 1982 he was elected chairman of the CSU regional group in the German Bundestag and, at the same time, first deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group. In April 1989 he resigned from these offices. Waigel was last ( 14th electoral period ) with 54.8% of the votes directly elected member of the Neu-Ulm constituency .

Finance minister

Theo Waigel giving a speech in the Bavarian State Parliament (2009)

In the course of a cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed to the Federal Minister of Finance in the Federal Government led by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on April 21, 1989 , where he was responsible for negotiating and implementing the monetary, economic and social union . After the 1998 Bundestag election , he left the government on October 26, 1998 after holding the post of finance minister in the Kohl III , Kohl IV and Kohl V cabinets .

The name “ Euro ” for the common European currency goes back to a proposal made by Waigel in December 1995 in the European Council ; he is often referred to as the "namesake for the euro".

Others

In the six-part television game Die Affäre Semmeling by Dieter Wedel , he made two brief appearances in his role as Federal Minister of Finance.

Awards

• 1989: Bavarian Order of Beer
• 1997: Order against the seriousness of the animals of the Aachen Carnival Association
• 1997: Dinosaurs of 1997 the NABU
• 2003: Honorary Senator of the Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
• 2009: British-German Community Medal from the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany
• 2015: Scheidegger Peace Prize
• 2016: Wilhelm Weber Prize
• 2016: SignsAward of the Weimer Media Group, special prize for life's work

Waigel also received the following awards: Great Federal Cross of Merit (1984), with a star (1988) and shoulder ribbon (1996), Bavarian Order of Merit , honorary doctorate from the University of South Carolina (1997) and 2001 commander of the French Legion of Honor .

Publications (selection)

• Honesty is a currency. Memories , Econ, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-430-21009-6 .
• Our future is Europe: The Road to Economic and Monetary Union , 1996
• Days that changed Germany and the world. From the Fall of the Wall to the Caucasus - The German Monetary Union , 1994
• Acting out of responsibility , 1991
• Changing values ​​in the state and society , 1986
• Setting the course for Germany and Europe. Theo Waigel, stations of a politician. Festschrift for Theo Waigel on his 70th birthday , ed. v. Peter Ramsauer . Olzog, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7892-8306-2 .
• My experiences with school: as a student, as a father and as a politician , Waxmann, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-89325868-X .

Web links

Commons : Theo Waigel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography at the German Bundestag
• Literature by and about Theo Waigel in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ It's pretty decent . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1997 ( online ).
2. ↑ Euro coins in a military cemetery: A symbol of peace . Augsburg General. August 12, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
3. ↑ “Listen to the youth!” An interview with Theo Waigel . BR , report Munich , April 16, 2019
4. ↑ Dr. Theo Waigel. Retrieved April 13, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Martin-W. Buchenau: Rezzo hose advises EnBW . Handelsblatt. March 15, 2006. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
6. ↑ Detlef Gürtler: The helpers of the locusts . Cicero. July 23, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
7. ↑ Waigel's new colleague: Meckel becomes a consultant . netzeitung.de. September 29, 2005. Archived from the original on April 14, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
8. ↑ Marcel Rosenbach : Kirchs pension fund . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 2003 ( online ).
9. ↑ Theo Waigel goes to NSM-Löwen Entertainment . Börse Express. December 6, 2004. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
10. ↑ Imprint . Lion entertainment. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
11. ↑ No longer in bondage . Southgerman newspaper. May 17, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
12. ↑ Waigel monitors Siemens . May 17, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Waigel wants to retire from Siemens . Thomson Reuters Germany report in WirtschaftsWoche. November 14, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
14. ↑ Siemens ends bribe affair with a billion dollar fine . Spiegel Online . December 15, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
15. ↑ Dr. Theo Waigel appointed as compliance monitor ( English ) Siemens AG. December 15, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
16. ↑ Ex-Finance Minister praises the fight against corruption: Theo Waigel ends control function at Siemens . Focus Online. October 31, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
17. ↑ 1st Alpine Ski World Championships for the Deaf in Nesselwang . German Deaf Sports Association. March 12, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
18. ↑ 70 years of KLJB and a clear commitment to Europe. (No longer available online.) KLJB, March 6, 2017, archived from the original on March 26, 2017 ; Retrieved March 25, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ Dr. Theo Waigel . Waigel lawyers. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
20. ↑ Stefan Kuzmany: Now Theo Waigel has to leave the chairmanship of the CSU to his party enemy Edmund Stoiber. In: taz . September 29, 1998. Retrieved December 28, 2019 . 
21. ↑ Agenda of the party congress (pdf, 2 MB), see also website on the history of the CDU of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
22. ^ Members of the party executive . CSU. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
23. ↑ CSU.de ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
24. ↑ Waigel presents CSU code of conduct . Augsburg General. December 20, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
25. ↑ Interview with Waigel. ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Bavaria 2
26. ↑ Mainhardt Graf Nayhauß (ed.): Megalomania and politics . Ed. Lingenstiftung, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-941118-95-9 , p. 29
27. ↑ Dinosaur of the Year . NABU. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
28. ↑ "The euro is my destiny." . Handelsblatt . Retrieved July 6, 2018.
29. ↑ Theo Waigel awarded the Wilhelm Weber Prize . Focus Online. April 13, 2016. Accessed July 6, 2018.
30. ↑ Theo Waigel . Who's who. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
31. ↑ Waigel becomes "Commandeur" . The world. June 22, 2001. Retrieved July 6, 2018.