FRANKFURT (MNI) – The board of Germany’s Bundesbank on Wednesday
unanimously expressed its desire to see board member Thilo Sarrazin
relieved of his position, German daily Berliner Zeitung reported.
The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said it is now only a matter
of how rather than whether to get rid of Sarrazin, who has come under
intense fire for his most recent comments on minority groups in Germany,
in particular Muslims and Jews.
The Bundesbank assumes Sarrazin will take legal steps to avoid a
dismissal, the paper reported. For this reason, “vital grounds” for a
dismissal must be argued, which could be done if Sarrazin’s conduct is
determined to constitute a severe breach of the rules.
The Bundesbank cannot itself remove a board member, a power
reserved for the president of the country. Although the process in any
case would generate further unwelcome publicity for the bank, the
spectre of another four years of Sarrazin — whose term expires in 2014
— has led his fellow board members to prefer “an unpleasant end to
unpleasantness without end,” the paper quoted a source as saying.
The Bundesbank’s head, Axel Weber, is a member of the European
Central Bank Governing Council and is seen as a strong contender for the
presidency of the ECB when the current officeholder, Jean-Claude
Trichet, leaves at the end of October 2011.
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: dbarwick@marketnews.com
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