Mourning for politicians: Wolfgang Clement has died

Wolfgang Clement, a former SPD politician, Federal Minister for the Economy and Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, has died after a long illness. He was 80 years old.

The former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and Federal Minister for the Economy, Wolfgang Clement, has died. The former SPD politician died peacefully Sunday night with his family at their Bonn home, as his spokesman said. It was only in the summer that it became known that Clement was suffering from lung cancer. He was 80 years old.

Clement was born on July 7, 1940 in Bochum, the son of a master builder. As his father was keen, he studied law, but later became a journalist. In 1989, the then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau, brought him into his state government as Secretary of State. In 1998, Clement himself became prime minister, and in 2002 he passed to the federal government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as super minister for the economy and labor. He held this position until the end of the Schröder government in 2005.

Leaving the SPD in 2008

In 2008, after an internal dispute, Clement left the party and more recently supported the FDP. After leaving the SPD, he remained publicly present as a book author (“Klartext”) and mediator in the collective bargaining dispute in the construction industry.

FDP leader Christian Lindner tweeted: “The FDP mourns the loss of Wolfgang Clement. As a social liberal, he was committed to social progress, work and growth throughout his life.” The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, praised his predecessor as an influential figure in the state and beyond. Clement was “a defining figure in North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany and a versatile actor at the turn of the millennium,” Laschet explained. “Personally, I am losing a lovely person who was always available for advice.”