Dr. Theo Waigel

Dr. Theo Waigel was the longest-serving Federal Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany, from April 1989 to October 1998. He was Finance Minister at a formative time for Germany – including during unification – and played a key role in European monetary union and the formation of the euro. Dr. Waigel started his career in public office as a member of the Krumbach County Council, and became a member of the Bundestag in 1972. He was a Personal Assistant to the Under Secretary of State at the Bavarian Ministry of Finance from 1969 to 1970, then to the Bavarian Minister of State for Economic and Transportation Affairs from 1970 to 1972. He has held a number of leadership positions with the Christian Social Union (CSU) through the years. From 1971 to 1975, he was Chairman of the Junge Union Bayern, the junior arm of the CSU in Bavaria, then Chairman of the CSU’s Doctrinal Commission from 1973 to 1988. From 1982 to April 1989, he was Chairman of the Bavarian CSU faction in the Bundestag and First Vice-Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. From 1988 to 1999, he was Chairman of the CSU. After leaving public office, Dr. Waigel practiced as a lawyer in the law firm GSK Stockmann + Kollegen in Munich from 1999 to 2014, and he was the Monitor at Siemens from 2009 to 2012. As of 2016, he is Of Counsel at WAIGEL Rechtsanwälte in Munich. He was member of the Independent Compliance Review Panel at Airbus from 2017 to 2020. He studied at the Universities of Munich and Würzburg and holds a doctorate in Legal and Political Science and is an Honorary Doctor of Law of the University of South Carolina.