Choosing Angela Merkel as general secretary of the Christian Democratic Union was 'the best decision of my time in office', wrote Wolfgang Schäuble. Photograph: Bernd Von Jutrcrzenka/EPAChoosing her as general secretary of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union in 1998 was, he wrote, “the best decision of my time in office”.
In his memoir Dr Schäuble recalled dramatic health issues during the euro crisis, shuttling between hospital beds and Brussels meeting rooms. It was an era of political challenges too, he admitted, as the battle for the single currency “strained my loyalty to the chancellor”. On his controversial 2015 proposal to shut Greece out of the eurozone temporarily to carry out economic reforms, Dr Schäuble “got into a dispute with Merkel, who responded to my remarks by saying she would only do it in agreement with François Hollande, who didn’t agree”.