EUROPEAN Central Bank president Christine Lagarde on Wednesday (Dec 27) paid tribute to former German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, noting his impact on the European project.

Schaeuble, whose death was announced on Wednesday, was “one of the most influential European leaders of his generation”, Lagarde said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

She lauded Schaeuble’s “commitment to Europe, his intellectual rigour and his statesmanship”.

Schaeuble, who served eight years as finance minister under former chancellor Angela Merkel, was seen as the high priest of German budgetary orthodoxy and played a key role in the eurozone debt crisis, which unfurled in the wake of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

Schaeuble not only strictly guarded a policy of balanced budgets at home, but also encouraged fiscal discipline among Germany’s partners in the single currency bloc.

For Greece, which found itself at the centre of the debt crisis, the bitter medicine for its financial ills took the form of swinging cuts to spending and economic reforms that saw the country’s economy shrinking by a quarter in just five years.

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At one point during the crisis, Schaeuble shockingly suggested that Greece could temporarily exit the euro, while Athens got its house in order.

Schaeuble clashed repeatedly with Greece’s left-wing finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who pushed back against the demands made by Germany and others.

History would judge Schaeuble “harshly”, Varoufakis said in a post on X following the German’s death.

“But not more harshly than those who succumbed to his destructive policies,” Varoufakis said. AFP