Sigmar Gabriel’s rise to the top of the German economy begins on a warm winter day in Doha. The 60-year-old was Minister for the Environment, the Economy and Foreign Affairs, and he led the Social Democratic Party of Germany for seven and a half years. Now Hamad bin Khalifa has loaded Al Thani, father of the Emir of Qatar. To the job interview. Al Thanis are Deutsche Bank’s largest single shareholder.
Chief controller Paul Achleitner (63) had proposed to the family to send Sigmar Gabriel to the supervisory board after the Qatarians had not found any suitable applicants. So now Gabriel, who, as minister, had rejected requests from the Qatari to buy German weapons.
Gabriel flies in, presents himself in the palace. A little bit of small talk, a little bit of Deutsche Bank. Finally, after 20 minutes, Gabriel asks if the sheikh wants to know anything else. He just waves: “Oh, I know all that …”
These are anecdotes as Sigmar Gabriel loves them.
The world knows him.