التصنيف: جديد

Wolfgang Schaeuble, who helped negotiate German reunification in 1990 and was later influential in steering Europe through the debt crisis, has died at 81.

Mr Schaeuble died at home on Tuesday evening, his family told German news agency dpa on Wednesday.

He took the job as former chancellor Angela Merkel’s finance minister in 2009, just before revelations about Greece’s ballooning budget deficit sparked the debt crisis.

He pulled the strings of Germany’s policy response, securing support on the right of Ms Merkel’s conservative bloc for three Greek bailouts.

After eight years as finance minister, Mr Schaeuble cemented his status as an elder statesman by becoming the German parliament’s speaker.

A member of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), he had been a member of parliament without interruption since 1972.

At the time of his death, he was the country’s longest-serving lawmaker.

Mr Schaeuble was shot at during an election rally in 1990, just after reunification.

He was paralysed from the waist down and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

He returned to work weeks later and, the following year, was credited with helping sway Germany’s parliament to move the reunited nation’s capital from Bonn to Berlin.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Godfather’ of avocado toast Bill Granger dies
Woman shot dead by brother ‘in row over Christmas presents’

Ms Merkel said Mr Schaeuble was a “political teacher” when she was a young minister in the 1990s and “one of the anchors” of her cabinets.

She said she “admired his discipline, including toward himself”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he “shaped our country for more than half a century: as a lawmaker, minister and parliament speaker”.

“With him, Germany is losing a sharp thinker, a passionate politician and a combative democrat,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

As interior minister, Mr Schaeuble, who represented the west, was key in drawing up the terms of Germany’s reunification treaty, signed in August 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“He epitomised post-war democratic Germany like few others,” said interior minister Nancy Faeser.

Overnight, Russia launched several waves of drone attacks on Ukraine causing widespread damage across the country.

Ukraine claims a total of 46 attacks were conducted using a blend of ballistic and cruise missiles, plus Shahed 136 drones (supplied by Iran). The Ukrainian air defence systems are becoming increasingly effective at defeating these attacks, with Ukraine claiming they shot down a total of 32 of the incoming missiles and drones.

However, even when the Russian onslaught is successfully targeted the debris of Russian missiles causes significant damage and although the intended target is often protected, the debris plus warhead often falls on to the civilian population to devastating effect.

So why has Russia launched this huge wave of attacks?

It is no coincidence that on Tuesday Ukraine claimed to have successfully attacked a Russian landing ship in the Crimean port town of Feodosia. The resulting explosion suggests the vessel was carrying significant quantities of ammunition and weapons. Russia has admitted the ship was “damaged”, but claims that they shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets involved in the attack – a claim which Ukraine denies.

The UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps claimed the Ukrainian attack demonstrated that the war was not in a stalemate and that Ukraine had destroyed over 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, challenging Russian military dominance of the Black Sea.

However, despite the success of the Ukrainian attack, the key metrics of success are not ships and tanks destroyed, but territory gained. It is now over six months since the start of the much-anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive, yet despite huge Western military and financial support, there has been very limited progress in moving the frontline.

But while Ukraine has been focused on breaking through the Russian lines across a broad front, President Putin’s focus for his Special Military Operation appears to be the Donbas. Following the brutal war of attrition to secure Bakhmut, Russia turned its attention to Avdiivka and Marinka – despite the dreadful seasonal weather, Russia has suffered huge casualties this past few weeks to make progress on this front.

On Christmas Day, Russia claimed it had finally secured Marinka, which was initially denied by Ukraine. However, yesterday the head of the Ukrainian military Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi admitted Ukrainian forces had now abandoned the ruins of the town.

Although Marinka is a relatively small town, this is a significant tactical victory for Russia. It is a clear indication of Russia’s determination to secure the wider Donbas – despite the winter weather – and will serve to further embolden Putin.

Meanwhile, both the EU and American Congress are struggling to extend vital military and financial support for Ukraine into next year. Neither Russia nor Ukraine will be able to mount a significant military offensive in the near future, and it is looking increasingly difficult to see any way for Ukraine to liberate all its occupied territories.

With Western support for Ukraine’s war effort stagnating at best, pressure will start to increase to negotiate an end to hostilities, even though it will prove incredibly difficult for President Zelenskyy to consider any form of compromise.