Theodor Waigel (born 22 April 1939) is a German politician of the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...
(CSU). He represented
Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm ( Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December 2019 ...
in the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
from 1976 to 2002.
Waigel is a lawyer, and earned a doctorate in 1967. He was a
member of the Bundestag
Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag.
''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichs ...
from 1972 to 2002. He served as
Federal Minister of Finance of Germany in the Cabinet of Chancellor
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
from 1989 to 1998, and as Chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria from 1988
to 1999. He is known as the father of the
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
, the European currency. He played a vital role in its introduction as German Minister of Finance. He also managed to impose an
austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
program on West Germans and overcome the massive deficits of German unification to meet the strict fiscal benchmarks mandated by Europe's single currency. In 2009, he was appointed Honorary Chairman of the CSU.
Early life
Waigel was born as the son of a small-time farmer from the Swabian village of
Oberrohr. When he was 6, his older brother, August, was killed in France during World War 2.
Member of the Bundestag, 1972–2002
Waigel first became a
Member of the German Bundestag
Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag.
''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichs ...
for
Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm ( Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December 2019 ...
in the
1972 federal elections. From 1980 to 1982, he served as spokesperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on economic affairs. He was the group's deputy chairman from 1982 until 1989. In this capacity, he also served as the leader of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians.
Federal Minister of Finance, 1989–1998
In a 1989 cabinet reshuffle,
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
named Waigel as new Federal Minister of Finance, replacing
Gerhard Stoltenberg
Gerhard Stoltenberg (29 September 1928 – 23 November 2001) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as Minister-President o ...
. During his time in office, his state secretaries included leading economists
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler (; born 22 February 1943) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU (of which he is ...
(1990–1993) and
Jürgen Stark
Jürgen Stark (born 31 May 1948 in Gau-Odernheim, Germany) is a German economist who served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2006 to 2011 and concurrently
as ECB chief economist. Within the Executive Board, he w ...
(1995–1998), among others.
German reunification
During his time in office, Waigel oversaw the early economic integration of East Germany after the fall of Communism. He not only had to impose enormous new taxes on the German public, but he also had to keep the country's budget deficit from ballooning while Germany was spending $150 billion a year to rebuild the east.
In March 1990, Waigel publicly announced that his Government's policy was considering a proposal by its central bank, the
Bundesbank
The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...
, for conversion at a rate of one Deutsche mark for every two
East marks, with an exception for a small portion of personal savings. In response, hundreds of thousands of East Germans to protest the plan, including about 10,000 in East Berlin, who took to the
Palace of the Republic, where the newly elected Parliament was holding its inaugural meeting. Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that was not the policy after all.
On 19 May 1990, Waigel and his East German counterpart
Walter Romberg
Walter Romberg (27 December 1928 – 23 May 2014) was a German politician and finance minister of East Germany.
Early life and education
Romberg was born in Schwerin on 27 December 1928. From 1947 he studied physics and mathematics. He held a D ...
signed a state treaty to merge their economies and make the
West German mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
the sole legal currency in both nations by 2 July 1990.
In July 1990, Waigel joined Kohl and Foreign Minister
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...
on a trip to Moscow for meeting President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Comm ...
, where both worked to convince the Soviet leader to drop his remaining objections to German unification within
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
.
On 9 August 1990, Waigel announced that West Germany's 1990 budget would be its last and that he was withdrawing the Cabinet draft for the 1991 budget to make way for an
all-German budget consonant with unification. Later that year, he said that borrowing by Government, state and local authorities would total up to $95 billion the following year, nearly five times the equivalent figure for West Germany in 1989. Between 1989 and 1991 alone, the central government's budget deficit soared from 0.5 percent of national income to 5 percent.
Following a proposal developed by Waigel, the Kohl government agreed in February 1991 to an unexpectedly large package of tax increases – including a 7.5 percent surcharge on personal income and
corporate tax
A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed at ...
payments – to help pay for reunification, as well as the government's contribution to the allied forces during the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
and aid to Eastern Europe's fledgling democracies. In March 1992, Germany paid its final installment of $1.68 billion in Gulf War aid to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, fulfilling its overal pledge of $5.5 billion.
In the national debate on whether the federal Government should remain in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
or move to Berlin, Waigel argued Germany had assumed enough major financial obligations over the preceding years and could not afford to build a new capital.
In early 1996, Waigel and his French counterpart
Jean Arthuis
Jean Arthuis (born 7 October 1944 in Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Maine-et-Loire) is a French politician. Over the course of career, he has held various ministerial positions and served as Member of the European Parliament from France, where he chaired ...
launched a French-German economic stimulus package aimed at encouraging spending, increasing growth, cutting taxes on business and reducing unemployment. In the subsequent years, however, both CDU and CSU favored increasing taxes, fearing the consequences of further budgetary cuts; by 1997, the government was already in danger of breaking a Constitutional Court ruling that spending on public investment must exceed the budget deficit. At the time, Germany had a record 2.2 trillion marks in public debt, much of it amassed during Waigel's tenure because of the costs of reunification.
During the period of Reunification in the 1990s, Waigel, as Minister of Finance, refused to return eight buildings in East Germany belonging to six Austrian Jewish citizens.
International economic policies
![Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F083103-0034, München, CSU-Parteitag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F083103-0034%2C_M%C3%BCnchen%2C_CSU-Parteitag.jpg)
Soon after taking office, Waigel negotiated with his counterparts of the
G7 on the difficult question of rankings in the voting hierarchy of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF). Under the agreement, Japan and West Germany shared the No. 2 ranking at the agency, ahead of France and the United Kingdom. By 1991, Waigel was the driving force within the G7 to agree in principle that the Soviet Union should be offered a role in the IMF.
In 1991, Waigel became the first chairman of the board of the newly established
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...
(EBRD).
Energy and climate policy
On initiative of Waigel, the Bundestag establied the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) in 1990, using the amount of €1.3 billion from privatizing the former steel group
Salzgitter AG
Salzgitter AG is a German company, one of the largest steel producers in Europe with an annual output of around seven million tonnes.
With over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies, the Group is structured in five divisions – Steel, Tr ...
.
After Germany and France failed to get the
18th G7 summit to agree on ways to assure the safety of deteriorating nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Waigel pledged that public funds from the West would nonetheless be mobilized not simply to repair dangerous plants but "to change the whole energy policy in these states so they can conserve energy, develop alternative energy sources and thereby create more leeway for shutting down plants that are unsafe."
Introduction of the Euro
Under the leadership of Kohl and Waigel, the adoption of a common currency became central to Germany's goals of political and economic integration in Europe.
At the height of speculative attacks on the
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) is a system introduced by the European Economic Community on 1 January 1999 alongside the introduction of a single currency, the euro (replacing ERM 1 and the euro's predecessor, the ECU) as p ...
(ERM) in 1992–93, acting closely with his then counterpart
Michel Sapin
Michel Sapin (; born 9 April 1952 is a French politician who served as Minister of Finance from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2014 to 2017. He is a member of the Socialist Party.
He was Minister of the Civil Service from 2000 to 2002 and Minis ...
of France, Waigel repulsed speculators trying to break the
French franc
The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...
's parity with the
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
by selling marks en masse until the bank traders gave up.
Throughout the 1990s, Waigel was seeking to assure a skeptical German public as well as small companies and banks that the new currency would be as stable as the Deutsche Mark, which had become a symbol of Germany's economic hegemony in Europe at the time. In September 1995, Waigel first proposed that countries adopting a single currency agree to reinforce rules on budget deficits and impose financial sanctions against deficit violators that go beyond the penalties included in the
Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
. Also in September 1995, Waigel first floated Euro as the name of the new single currency. He later overruled the French government with his proposal; France had favored want the name ECU, the
European Currency Unit
The European Currency Unit (, ; , ECU, or XEU) was a unit of account used by the European Economic Community and composed of a basket of member country currencies. The ECU came in to operation on 13 March 1979 and was assigned the ISO 421 ...
which was used in many accounts and the issuance of some debt at the time. The name "Euro" was later chosen for the new currency at the European Council in Madrid.
In a move to reduce government spending, Waigel led the call for a reduction in Germany's contributions to the
budget of the European Union
The Budget of the European Union (EU budget) is used to finance EU funding programmes (such as the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, Horizon Europe, or Erasmus+) and other expenditure at the European level.
The EU budget ...
in 1996. He wrote to Kohl pointing out that contributions from Germany made up about 60 percent of the
EU's regional and structural funds and urging him to push for a cut in Germany's burden. In 1998, he joined fellow finance ministers
Gerrit Zalm
Gerrit Zalm (born 6 May 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman.
Zalm studied Economics at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining a Master of Economics degree and worked as a ci ...
of the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Rudolf Edlinger of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Erik Ã…sbrink of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
urging
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
Jacques Santer
Jacques Santer (born 18 May 1937) is a Luxembourg politician who served as the 9th President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999. He served as Finance Minister of Luxembourg from 1979 until 1989, and the 20th Prime Minister of Luxembo ...
to cap the proportion of a country's income which goes to the EU as part of his
Agenda 2000
Agenda 2000 was an action programme of the European Union whose main objectives were to reform the Common Agricultural Policy and Regional policy of the European Union, Regional policy, and establish a new financial framework for the years 2000†...
spending review.
After his failed attempt to pressure
Bundesbank
The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...
president
Hans Tietmeyer
Hans Tietmeyer (18 August 1931 – 27 December 2016) was a German economist and regarded as one of the foremost experts on international financial matters. He was president of Deutsche Bundesbank from 1993 until 1999 and remained afterwards one o ...
into a quick revaluation of the country's
gold reserve
A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of v ...
s in order to bring Germany's budget deficit into line with the criteria for the single currency, Waigel had to confront a parliamentary motion against him on 4 June 1997. He won the vote by just 328 votes to 311.
In November 1997, Waigel imposed the strictest
budget freeze A budget freeze in the USA is when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes.
Budget freezes be ...
in the country's history, in a last-ditch effort to fulfill the
Euro convergence criteria
The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currenc ...
. The freeze, which lasted until the end of that year, was imposed to save the government a further one billion marks ($578.2 million).
On 30 June 1998, Waigel attended the inauguration ceremony of the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...
in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, Germany, alongside Kohl, ECB President
Wim Duisenberg
Willem Frederik "Wim" Duisenberg (; 9 July 1935 – 31 July 2005) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 1 June 1998 until 31 October 2003. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA).
Du ...
,
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
Jacques Santer
Jacques Santer (born 18 May 1937) is a Luxembourg politician who served as the 9th President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999. He served as Finance Minister of Luxembourg from 1979 until 1989, and the 20th Prime Minister of Luxembo ...
,
President of the European Parliament
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
José MarÃa Gil-Robles
José MarÃa Gil-Robles y Gil-Delgado (17 June 1935 – 13 February 2023) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament in the European People's Party group, and was President of the European Parliament from 1 ...
, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, and
Chancellor of Austria
The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies.
Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...
Viktor Klima
Viktor Klima (born 4 June 1947) is an Austrian Social Democrat politician and businessman. He was chancellor of Austria from 1997 to 2000.
Early career
Born in Schwechat, Lower Austria, Klima started working for the then state-owned OMV oil com ...
.
In 2011, a commentator seeing Germany forced perhaps to choose between monetary stability, on the one hand, and the
EMU
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...
, recalled by way of contrast Waigel's statement at the founding, "We are bringing the D-Mark into Europe."
Role in Bavarian politics
In May 1993, Waigel announced that we would leave national politics and run for the state premiership of Bavaria against his rival,
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the States of Germany, state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Christian So ...
. During what turned into a bitter struggle, it was revealed that he was estranged from his wife and had been in a long-standing relationship with former Olympic skier Irene Epple. In the end, he failed to win the premiership but stayed on as party leader. In late 1995, Waigel was re-elected to the CSU leadership with 95 percent of the vote.
Following the
1998 elections, Waigel was succeeded by
Oscar Lafontaine. At the time, he was Germany's longest-serving postwar Finance Minister.
By the end of the 1990s, Waigel and Minister-President Stoiber of Bavaria were locked in a bitter rivalry for control of the state and its ruling party, the CSU. Stoiber had been a vociferous critic of the creation of a single European currency and he has also infuriated both Kohl and Waigel by proposing that wealthy states like Bavaria be freed from having to underwrite social security costs for poorer states. In late 1998, Stoiber succeeded Waigel as chairman of the CSU.
Life after politics
Since his retirement from German and European politics, Waigel has held paid and unpaid positions, including:
*
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
,
Honorary Consul
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
*
AachenMünchener Lebensversicherung AG, Member of the Supervisory Board
*
Accor
Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide.
Accor op ...
, Member of the Board of Directors
*
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
, Member of the Advisory Board
* Bayerische Gewerbebau AG, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board
*
Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, Member of the European Advisory Board
* Deutsche Vermögensberatung (DVAG), Chairman of the Advisory Board
*
Eli Lilly Holdings Ltd., Member of the European Advisory Board
*
Emerson Electric
Emerson Electric Co. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Ferguson, Missouri. The ''Fortune'' 500 company manufactures products and provides engineering services for industrial, commercial, and consumer markets. , Member of the European Advisory Board
*
EnBW
EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, or simply EnBW, is a publicly-traded energy company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany. As its name indicates, EnBW is based in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
History Foundation and development
EnB ...
, Member of the Advisory Board
*
Fendt
Fendt is a German agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1930 by Xaver Fendt in Marktoberdorf, Allgäu region, Germany. Fendt manufactures tractors, combine harvesters, balers, telescopic handlers and row crop planters. It was purchase ...
, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2007)
*
Swissair
Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002.
It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
, Member of the Advisory Board
*
, Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees (alongside
Hans-Jochen Vogel
Hans-Jochen Vogel (3 February 192626 July 2020) was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972, winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of We ...
)
*
University of Augsburg
The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties.
The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...
, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
* Institute for Bavarian History at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
, Member of the Board of Trustees
*
Institute of the Regions of Europe
The Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE) (german: Institut der Regionen Europas; IRE) is a scientific institute located in Salzburg (Austria) and was founded on 21 December 2004 by Univ. Prof. Dr. Franz Schausberger, former governour of the ...
, Member of the Board of Patrons
*
Kissinger Sommer
The Kissinger Sommer is a classical music festival held every year in the summer in the city of Bad Kissingen in Bavaria, Southern Germany.
History
The festival was founded in 1986. At the beginning the focus of the festival was on the improvem ...
, Member of the Board of Trustees
* Eugen Biser Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees
*
Hanns Seidel Foundation
The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, CSU-associated Hanns Seidel Foundation (german: Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung) is a German party-associated and taxpayer-money funded political research Foundation (charity), foundation. It was founded in November 19 ...
, Member of the Board of Executives
*
German Council on Foreign Relations
The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit org ...
(DGAP), Member of the Board of Executives
After serving as
Of counsel with the Munich office of law firm GSK Stockmann + Kollegen for many years, Waigel – alongside
Alexander Radwan
Alexander Gamal Radwan (born 30 August 1964) is a German politician.
Education
* 1987: Graduated in aeronautical engineering
* 1992: First state law examination
* 1995: second state law examination
Early career
* Since 1995: Lawyer
* Since 19 ...
, among others – joined Waigel Rechtsanwälte in 2016.
In 2008, following revelations about violations of the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests.
The FCPA is applicable world ...
, the German industrial conglomerate
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
agreed to install Waigel as an outside corporate monitor for four years. Waigel was the first compliance monitor who is not a U.S. national. He served in this position between January 2009 and October 2012.
In 2011, Waigel served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the
Munich bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics
Munich 2018 (german: München 2018; bar, Minga 2018) was an unsuccessful bid by Munich, Germany for the 2018 edition of the Winter Olympic Games.
Overview
Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics, and if selected would have been the first city t ...
.
In 2012, Waigel joined a newly established external advisory panel under the leadership of
Jürgen Hambrecht
Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George. Notable people named Jürgen include:
A
* Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder
*Jürgen Alzen (born 1 ...
at
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
, which was to review compensation and governance at the company.
Even after the end of his political career, Waigel was a CSU delegate to the
Federal Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...
for the purpose of electing the
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
in 2009, 2010,
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
and
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
.
In 2013, Waigel was offered the role of president of
TSV 1860 Munich
, commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football.
1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...
but decided against it. Amid the
2015 FIFA corruption case
In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach s ...
, he declined offers to join an advisory board to the
2016 FIFA Reform Committee.
From 2016 to 2022, following an appointment by
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
, Waigel served on a three-member panel (alongside Michael Gerhardt and
Krista Sager
Krista Sager ( Schuller; born 28 July 1953) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party who served as party co-leader between 1994 and 1996, and co-leader of the Greens group in the Bundestag between 2002 and 2005.
Early life and ...
) to oversee the implementation of a new law designed to avoid potential conflicts of interest, requiring senior German officials from the chancellor to deputy ministers to observe a cooling-off period if they want to quit the government for a job in business.
Alongside
and
Noëlle Lenoir
Noëlle Lenoir (born 27 April 1948) is a French lawyer, former judge, and politician.
Career
Noëlle Lenoir was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She is a graduate of Sciences Po and the Paris Law Faculty. She has been a professor in each of these ...
, Waigel was appointed by
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
to an Independent Compliance Review Panel (ICRP) in 2017, amid investigations by the
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the
Parquet national financier
The Parquet national financier (PNF) is a French judicial institution proposed in late 2013 that is responsible for tracking down serious economic and financial crime. Since its installation on 1 March 2014, the financial public prosecutor deals wi ...
(PNF) into allegations of
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
,
bribery
Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
and
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
in the company's civil aviation business.
[Tim Hepher (22 May 2017)]
Airbus hires outside monitors amid fraud investigations
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
''.
Personal life
From 1966 to 1993 Waigel was married to Karin Waigel (two children). Since 1994 he has been married to the Olympic alpine skier
Irene Epple
Irene Epple-Waigel (; born 18 June 1957) is a German former alpine skier. She won a total of 11 Alpine Skiing World Cup races and two World Cups, in giant slalom and combined (both in 1982). She also won a silver medal at the 1980 Winter Olympic ...
; they have one child.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waigel, Theo
1939 births
Living people
People from Günzburg (district)
Politicians from Bavaria
Finance ministers of Germany
Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria
Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002
Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998
Members of the Bundestag 1990–1994
Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990
Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987
Members of the Bundestag 1980–1983
Members of the Bundestag 1976–1980
Members of the Bundestag 1972–1976
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria