Wolfgang Schäuble, who has died aged 81, was once described in this newspaper as the “big bad wolf of the eurozone”, but as the ultra-hawkish German finance minister under Angela Merkel he earned huge respect, and made a few enemies, by helping to steer the currency union through the debt crisis that followed the global financial crash of 2008.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the Christian Democratic politician who helped lead Europe’s largest economy through the worst financial challenges since World War Two, has died at the age of 81, his family said.