The death of the former German Economy Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, was announced on Wednesday morning by his family.

According to the announcement of the family, the 81-year-old politician died at his home on Tuesday night.

As reported by the German news agency, Schäuble died “peacefully” at 8 pm on Tuesday

Schäuble, who was a member of the Bundestag for 50 years, leaves behind his 80-year-old wife Ingeborg, four children and four grandchildren.

As noted by German media, Schäuble marked the history of Germany like no other politician. In 1972 he was elected to parliament for the first time with the CDU while as the Minister of the Interior of the Kohl government he had negotiated the reunification of Germany.

In October 1990 Schäuble was shot by a mentally ill man during a campaign rally and was since been confined to a wheelchair.

The “grand seigneur” of German politics had retired at the age of 79, after 19 years in ministries, two years at the head of the CDU and nine in the role of head of the Parliamentary Group.

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However, Schäuble’s career was marked by the positions he did not win: that of chancellor and that of federal president. Twice he found Angela Merkel in front of him — to whom he nevertheless remained loyal to the end. “Not pleasant, not easy; faithful”, as she put it.

For Greece of course, and not only, Wolfgang Schäuble was rather the personification of fiscal discipline and austerity and very few in the European South were willing to recognize as mitigating the…noble motive he invoked: the salvation of the European Union.