Its two ministers are lightweight, unlike such previous stalwarts as Franz Josef Strauss and Theo Waigel.

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And now the German finance minister, Theo Waigel, has ineptly thrown the whole project into crisis.

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Theo Waigel, chairman of the Christian Democrats' stroppy Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union, was also applauded.

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"German-French ties under Mitterrand became a formative factor in the European unification process, " added German Finance Minister Theo Waigel.

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In Bonn there has also been talk of Theo Waigel, Germany's long-serving finance minister, going to Brussels, though he is right-wing.

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But he is sick almost to death of the premier's perpetual cross-fire a feeling which, incidentally, he shares with Theo Waigel, federal finance minister and chairman (so long as Mr Stoiber allows) of the Christian Social Union.

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Theo Waigel, Germany's finance minister, disagrees entirely.

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That does not go for Theo Waigel, the Bavarian party's chairman and federal finance minister, but he feels obliged to be tough on the 3% issue (tougher, indeed, than the Maastricht treaty requires) to avoid being outflanked by Mr Stoiber, his arch-rival.

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It is also true that Theo Waigel, the finance minister, has put consensus to a severe test by announcing out of the blue that new spending cuts to be taken from welfare may prove necessary this year to permit Germany to join Europe's single currency.

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