Wolfgang Schäuble
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Schäuble ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈʃɔʏblə (born 18 September 1942) is a German politician
of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance
in the Second Cabinet Merkel.
From 1984 to 1991 he was a member of Helmut Kohl
's cabinet, first as Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
and Chief of the Chancellery
and then as Federal Minister of the Interior. Between 1991 and 2000, he was chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the parliament, and from 1998 to 2000 also CDU party chairman. He served again as Federal Minister of the Interior in the First Cabinet Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
in 1961, Schäuble studied law and economics in Freiburg im Breisgau and Hamburg
, which he completed in 1966 and 1970 by passing the First and Second State Examinations respectively, becoming a fully qualified lawyer.
In 1971 Schäuble obtained his doctorate in law, with a dissertation called "The public accountant's professional legal situation within accountancy firms".
He entered the tax administration of the state of Baden-Württemberg
, eventually becoming a senior administration officer in the Freiburg tax office.
Subsequently Schäuble became a practising registered lawyer at the district court of Offenburg
, from 1978 to 1984.
, and has been executive chairman of the Baden-Württemberg state brewery "Rothaus
" since 2004.
("Young Union"), the youth division of the CDU. During his studies he served as chairman of the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (Association of Christian-Democrat Students, RCDS), in Hamburg and Freiburg. In 1965 Schäuble also became a member of the CDU. From 1969 to 1972 he was district chairman of the Junge Union in South Baden. From 1976 to 1984 he served as chairman of the CDU National Committee for Sport.
After the CDU was defeated in the 1998 federal election, Schäuble became chairman of the CDU. He gave up this post in 2000 in the wake of the party financing scandal
, over the acceptance of cash donation over DM 100,000 contributed by the arms dealer and lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber
back in 1994. Schäuble's successor was Angela Merkel
.
Schäuble has always been elected to the Bundestag by means of winning an electorate seat, rather than through a list placing in Germany’s system of proportional political representation. At the 2005 federal election he received 50.5% of all direct votes cast within his electoral district No. 285 in Offenburg
, slightly lower than the 52.2% he received at the 2002 election.
by Chancellor Helmut Kohl
. In this capacity he was put in charge of the preparations for the first official state visit of Erich Honecker
, Chairman
of the State Council
of the German Democratic Republic
(GDR), in 1987.
In a cabinet reshuffle Schäuble was made Minister of the Interior on 21 April 1989. In this role he also led the negotiations on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany
for reunification with the GDR in 1990. He is now Minister of Finance.
In the 1990s Schäuble was one of the most popular politicians in Germany and there was constant speculation that he would replace Kohl as Chancellor, who lost more and more of his popularity. In 1997 Helmut Kohl stated that Schäuble was his desired candidate to succeed him, but he didn’t want to hand over power until 2002 when the European monetary union would be completed with the introduction of the Euro. However, as the CDU/CSU lost the 1998 election, Schäuble never became Chancellor.
After Eberhard Diepgen
was voted out as mayor of Berlin, Schäuble was in talks to be the top candidate for the early election on 21 October 2001, but was rejected by the Berlin branch of the CDU in favour of Frank Steffel.
Some quarters of the CDU and CSU wanted to put Schäuble forward as their candidate for the office of German President, the largely ceremonial head of state, at the beginning of March 2004, due to his extensive political experience. In spite of support from the Premiers of Bavaria
(Edmund Stoiber (CSU)) and Hesse
(Roland Koch (CDU)), Schäuble did not receive the party’s nomination in the end because CDU leader Angela Merkel, other CDU politicians and the liberal FDP party spoke out against him. This was because the election contributions scandal involving Schäuble that first came to light in late 1999 had never been entirely resolved.
In November 2005, Schäuble once again became Federal Minister of the Interior, this time in the grand coalition
under Chancellor Angela Merkel
.
In October 2009, Schäuble became Federal Minister of Finance
.
During the Iraq War in 2003 Schäuble, in contrast to many German politicians, strongly defended the United States' decision to invade Iraq.
He accused the then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
of lacking an appropriate historical conscience, because he accepted alleged human rights
violations by the Russian Government without criticism.
Schäuble is also of the view that Europe's problem is not the European Union
, but rather certain national governments that cannot resist the temptation to make the EU and Europe the scapegoat for their own national problems. Examples pointed out by Schäuble include the EU's Stability and Growth Pact
, and the Ministry of Finance's view that the introduction of the Euro
would damage the German economy.
In March 2007, Schäuble said in an interview that the application of presumption of innocence
should not be relevant for the authorization of counter-terrorist operations.
Later that same year Schäuble proposed the introduction of legislation that would allow the German Federal Government to carry out targeted killing
of terrorists, as well as outlaw the use of the Internet and cell phones for people suspected of being terrorist sympathizers.
On 27 February 2008, he called on all European newspapers to print the Muhammad cartoons
with the explanation: "We also think they're pathetic, but the use of press freedom is no reason to resort to violence."
In July 2009, Schäuble said in an interview that Berlin would have to "clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting new threats." He said that the legal problems his office had to struggle with "extend all the way to extreme cases such as so-called targeted killing
... Imagine someone knew what cave Osama bin Laden is sitting in. A remote-controlled missile could then be fired in order to kill him." The interviewer said: "Germany's federal government would probably send a public prosecutor there first, to arrest bin Laden." Schäuble responded: "And the Americans would execute him with a missile, and most people would say: 'thank God'."
On November 21, 2011 Schäuble said the Euro would emerge stronger from the current crisis, thus leaving Great Britain on the sidelines unless it signed up. He said Great Britain would be forced to join Euro zone faster than some people on the British island think.
politics, especially in the field of counter-terrorism
, for which he is denounced by some civil rights
activists. Vocal opponents include the open-source software
community. The latest decisions of his ministry have led to a campaign dubbed Stasi 2.0
by its initiators, claiming intentional resemblance to the East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit.
Controversy was sparked by Schäuble's recommendation in a 2007 interview of a book by Otto Depenheuer
, who defended the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as a "legally permissible response in the fight of constitutional civilisation against the barbarity of terrorism".
As a protest against his support for the increasing use of biometric data
, the hacker
group Chaos Computer Club
published one of Schäuble's fingerprint
s in the March 2008 edition of its magazine Datenschleuder. The magazine also included the print on a film that readers could use to fool fingerprint readers.
In November 2008, a bill giving the Federal Criminal Police Office
(BKA) more authority failed when some states abstained from the vote in the Bundesrat
, the legislative representative of the states. Subsequently, Schäuble suggested changing Bundesrat's voting procedures to discount abstention votes from the total. Many ministers in the opposition criticized his proposal, and some called for his resignation.
In February 2009, Schäuble's homepage was hacked due to a security flaw in the TYPO3 CMS and the unsecure password "gewinner" (winner). The hack consisted of a defacement which placed a large, easily visible link to the homepage of the German Working Group on Data Retention on the front page.
. He injured a bodyguard, and severely injured Schäuble's spinal cord
and face. Schäuble has been paralysed and has used a wheelchair ever since. The assassin was declared mentally ill by the judges, and committed to a clinic because of psychoneurosis.
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Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance
Federal Minister of Finance (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Finance is part of the German federal government and is responsible for managing the federal budget. The finance minister is the only minister who can veto a decision of the government if it would lead to additional expenditure...
in the Second Cabinet Merkel.
From 1984 to 1991 he was a member of Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
's cabinet, first as Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
A Federal Minister for Special Affairs is a federal minister without portfolio of Germany.Currently, the title is commonly given to the head of the Chancellery to provide him with a vote in cabinet meetings...
and Chief of the Chancellery
German Chancellery
The German Chancellery is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister ...
and then as Federal Minister of the Interior. Between 1991 and 2000, he was chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the parliament, and from 1998 to 2000 also CDU party chairman. He served again as Federal Minister of the Interior in the First Cabinet Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
Education and career
Schäuble was born in Freiburg im Breisgau as the son of a tax finance advisor. After completing his AbiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
in 1961, Schäuble studied law and economics in Freiburg im Breisgau and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, which he completed in 1966 and 1970 by passing the First and Second State Examinations respectively, becoming a fully qualified lawyer.
In 1971 Schäuble obtained his doctorate in law, with a dissertation called "The public accountant's professional legal situation within accountancy firms".
He entered the tax administration of the state of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, eventually becoming a senior administration officer in the Freiburg tax office.
Subsequently Schäuble became a practising registered lawyer at the district court of Offenburg
Offenburg
Offenburg is a city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With about 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city and the capital of the Ortenaukreis.Offenburg also houses University of Applied Sciences Offenburg...
, from 1978 to 1984.
Family
Schäuble has been married to economist Ingeborg Schäuble since 1969. They have four children: three daughters Christine, Juliane and Anna, and one son Hans-Jörg. His brother Thomas Schäuble is a former Interior Minister of Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, and has been executive chairman of the Baden-Württemberg state brewery "Rothaus
Rothaus
The Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus is a brewery located 1000m above sea level in the town of Grafenhausen in Germany's Black Forest. It is one of Germany's most successful and profitable regional breweries, and in the past decade has become well-known outside of Baden as well...
" since 2004.
Political involvement
Schäuble's political career began in 1961 with him joining the Junge UnionJunge Union
The Junge Union Deutschlands or JU is the jointyouth organisation of the two conservative German political parties CDU and CSU...
("Young Union"), the youth division of the CDU. During his studies he served as chairman of the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (Association of Christian-Democrat Students, RCDS), in Hamburg and Freiburg. In 1965 Schäuble also became a member of the CDU. From 1969 to 1972 he was district chairman of the Junge Union in South Baden. From 1976 to 1984 he served as chairman of the CDU National Committee for Sport.
After the CDU was defeated in the 1998 federal election, Schäuble became chairman of the CDU. He gave up this post in 2000 in the wake of the party financing scandal
1999 CDU contributions scandal
In late 1999, it was discovered that the German Christian Democratic Union political party had accepted illegal donations while under the control of Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the 1990s...
, over the acceptance of cash donation over DM 100,000 contributed by the arms dealer and lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber
Karlheinz Schreiber
Friedrich Karlheinz Hermann Schreiber is a German and Canadian citizen, an industrialist, lobbyist, fundraiser, arms dealer and businessman...
back in 1994. Schäuble's successor was Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
.
Member of Parliament
Schäuble has been a member of the Bundestag since 1972. From 1981 to 1984 he was parliamentary whip of the CDU/CSU coalition and in November 1991 he became the chairman of the coalition. However, Schäuble gave up this position as well in 2000, as another consequence of the financing scandal. Since October 2002 Schäuble has been deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU.Schäuble has always been elected to the Bundestag by means of winning an electorate seat, rather than through a list placing in Germany’s system of proportional political representation. At the 2005 federal election he received 50.5% of all direct votes cast within his electoral district No. 285 in Offenburg
Offenburg
Offenburg is a city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With about 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city and the capital of the Ortenaukreis.Offenburg also houses University of Applied Sciences Offenburg...
, slightly lower than the 52.2% he received at the 2002 election.
Public office
On 15 November 1984 Schäuble was appointed Minister for Special Tasks and head of the ChancelleryGerman Chancellery
The German Chancellery is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister ...
by Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
. In this capacity he was put in charge of the preparations for the first official state visit of Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
, Chairman
Leaders of East Germany
The political leadership of East Germany was in the hands of several offices.Prior the proclamation of an East German state, the Soviets established in 1948 the German Economic Commission as a de facto government in their occupation zone...
of the State Council
Staatsrat
In the German Democratic Republic , the State Council was the collective head of state from 1960 to 1990.-Origins:...
of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR), in 1987.
In a cabinet reshuffle Schäuble was made Minister of the Interior on 21 April 1989. In this role he also led the negotiations on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
for reunification with the GDR in 1990. He is now Minister of Finance.
In the 1990s Schäuble was one of the most popular politicians in Germany and there was constant speculation that he would replace Kohl as Chancellor, who lost more and more of his popularity. In 1997 Helmut Kohl stated that Schäuble was his desired candidate to succeed him, but he didn’t want to hand over power until 2002 when the European monetary union would be completed with the introduction of the Euro. However, as the CDU/CSU lost the 1998 election, Schäuble never became Chancellor.
After Eberhard Diepgen
Eberhard Diepgen
Eberhard Diepgen is a German politician of the CDU. He studied law at the Free University of Berlin. He was mayor of West Berlin from 1984 to 1989 and a reunited Berlin from 1991 to 2001.-References:...
was voted out as mayor of Berlin, Schäuble was in talks to be the top candidate for the early election on 21 October 2001, but was rejected by the Berlin branch of the CDU in favour of Frank Steffel.
Some quarters of the CDU and CSU wanted to put Schäuble forward as their candidate for the office of German President, the largely ceremonial head of state, at the beginning of March 2004, due to his extensive political experience. In spite of support from the Premiers of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
(Edmund Stoiber (CSU)) and Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
(Roland Koch (CDU)), Schäuble did not receive the party’s nomination in the end because CDU leader Angela Merkel, other CDU politicians and the liberal FDP party spoke out against him. This was because the election contributions scandal involving Schäuble that first came to light in late 1999 had never been entirely resolved.
In November 2005, Schäuble once again became Federal Minister of the Interior, this time in the grand coalition
Grand coalition
A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...
under Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
.
In October 2009, Schäuble became Federal Minister of Finance
Federal Minister of Finance (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Finance is part of the German federal government and is responsible for managing the federal budget. The finance minister is the only minister who can veto a decision of the government if it would lead to additional expenditure...
.
Political views
In 1999 Schäuble initiated a CDU/CSU petition campaign against the reform of German citizenship law under the slogan "Integration: yes — double citizenship: no".During the Iraq War in 2003 Schäuble, in contrast to many German politicians, strongly defended the United States' decision to invade Iraq.
He accused the then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
of lacking an appropriate historical conscience, because he accepted alleged human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violations by the Russian Government without criticism.
Schäuble is also of the view that Europe's problem is not the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, but rather certain national governments that cannot resist the temptation to make the EU and Europe the scapegoat for their own national problems. Examples pointed out by Schäuble include the EU's Stability and Growth Pact
Stability and Growth Pact
The Stability and Growth Pact is an agreement among the 27 Member states of the European Union that take part in the Eurozone, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union...
, and the Ministry of Finance's view that the introduction of the Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
would damage the German economy.
In March 2007, Schäuble said in an interview that the application of presumption of innocence
Presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
should not be relevant for the authorization of counter-terrorist operations.
Later that same year Schäuble proposed the introduction of legislation that would allow the German Federal Government to carry out targeted killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
of terrorists, as well as outlaw the use of the Internet and cell phones for people suspected of being terrorist sympathizers.
On 27 February 2008, he called on all European newspapers to print the Muhammad cartoons
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
with the explanation: "We also think they're pathetic, but the use of press freedom is no reason to resort to violence."
In July 2009, Schäuble said in an interview that Berlin would have to "clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting new threats." He said that the legal problems his office had to struggle with "extend all the way to extreme cases such as so-called targeted killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
... Imagine someone knew what cave Osama bin Laden is sitting in. A remote-controlled missile could then be fired in order to kill him." The interviewer said: "Germany's federal government would probably send a public prosecutor there first, to arrest bin Laden." Schäuble responded: "And the Americans would execute him with a missile, and most people would say: 'thank God'."
On November 21, 2011 Schäuble said the Euro would emerge stronger from the current crisis, thus leaving Great Britain on the sidelines unless it signed up. He said Great Britain would be forced to join Euro zone faster than some people on the British island think.
Criticism
Criticism of Schäuble centers on his law and orderLaw and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
politics, especially in the field of counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
, for which he is denounced by some civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activists. Vocal opponents include the open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
community. The latest decisions of his ministry have led to a campaign dubbed Stasi 2.0
Stasi 2.0
The phrase Stasi 2.0 is the catchphrase of a civil rights campaign currently under way in Germany.The term is a portmanteau that originated in the blogosphere. The term combines the name of East Germany's former Ministry of State Security, commonly known as the "Stasi", with the concept of software...
by its initiators, claiming intentional resemblance to the East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit.
Controversy was sparked by Schäuble's recommendation in a 2007 interview of a book by Otto Depenheuer
Otto Depenheuer
Otto Depenheuer is a German law professor and organist.Depenheuer studied law in Bonn, where he attained his doctorate in 1985 and his habilitation in 1992. After teaching law in Münster and Halle/Saale, Depenheuer was appointed to the chair for public law and philosophy of law at the University...
, who defended the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as a "legally permissible response in the fight of constitutional civilisation against the barbarity of terrorism".
As a protest against his support for the increasing use of biometric data
Biometrics
Biometrics As Jain & Ross point out, "the term biometric authentication is perhaps more appropriate than biometrics since the latter has been historically used in the field of statistics to refer to the analysis of biological data [36]" . consists of methods...
, the hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
group Chaos Computer Club
Chaos Computer Club
The Chaos Computer Club is an organization of hackers. The CCC is based in Germany and other German-speaking countries.The CCC describes itself as "a galactic community of life forms, independent of age, sex, race or societal orientation, which strives across borders for freedom of...
published one of Schäuble's fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s in the March 2008 edition of its magazine Datenschleuder. The magazine also included the print on a film that readers could use to fool fingerprint readers.
In November 2008, a bill giving the Federal Criminal Police Office
Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany is a national investigative police agency in Germany and falls directly under the Federal Ministry of the Interior...
(BKA) more authority failed when some states abstained from the vote in the Bundesrat
Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level...
, the legislative representative of the states. Subsequently, Schäuble suggested changing Bundesrat's voting procedures to discount abstention votes from the total. Many ministers in the opposition criticized his proposal, and some called for his resignation.
In February 2009, Schäuble's homepage was hacked due to a security flaw in the TYPO3 CMS and the unsecure password "gewinner" (winner). The hack consisted of a defacement which placed a large, easily visible link to the homepage of the German Working Group on Data Retention on the front page.
Assassination attempt
On 12 October 1990, Schäuble was the target of an assassination attempt by Dieter Kaufmann, who fired three shots at Schäuble after an election campaign event in OppenauOppenau
Oppenau is a town located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It has a population of 5,200 inhabitants.-Geography:Oppenau is situated in the Rench valley in the Black Forest. The nearest major cities are Offenburg and Freudenstadt.-History:...
. He injured a bodyguard, and severely injured Schäuble's spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
and face. Schäuble has been paralysed and has used a wheelchair ever since. The assassin was declared mentally ill by the judges, and committed to a clinic because of psychoneurosis.
External links
- Germany's New Government: Wolfgang Schauble – The Comeback of United Germany's Architect
- Wolfgang Schäuble's homepage
- Biography of Wolfgang Schäuble at the German Historical Museum
- Biography of Wolfgang Schäuble at the Bundestag (German parliament) website
- Wolfgang Schäuble: "Muslims Should Feel at Home in Germany"
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