The former chairman of the Economic Wise Men, Lars Feld, goes to Christian Lindner in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
(Photo: imago images/Jens Schicke)
Sometimes it only becomes clear at second glance how important second-tier personnel decisions can be. Last week, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner appointed the former head of economics, Lars Feld, as his chief economic adviser.
It is a personnel policy coup. Friend and foe congratulated the Freiburg economist on this rise. And rightly so: Lindner has set up a kind of one-man expert council and is thus taking innovative paths.
There has long been a debate about reforming and modernizing the somewhat antiquated body. The old system of proportional representation, in which trade unions and employers can each propose one expert and the remaining three members are assigned according to party preference, has become obsolete.
The fact that the board is not fully staffed can also be seen as a sign of decline. Two camps have now formed in the Council.
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On the one hand the internationally recognized monetary policy expert Volker Wieland and the top energy specialist Veronika Grimm. On the other hand, trade union economist Achim Truger and digital competition expert Monika Schnitzer. A stalemate regularly comes out in the reports.
Difficult to influence politics
This is a pity. What all four economists have in common is that they are incredibly committed and want to shape things. Evidence of this is that they are increasingly active on social media, particularly Twitter.
They want to have an influence – and they take it. But the blockade seems to be right for politicians. Konrad Adenauer said to Ludwig Erhard when he set up the committee: “Do you want to put a louse in your fur?”
The old and current federal governments don’t even give a damn about this louse.
>> Read about this: Ex-economist Lars Feld becomes Lindner’s advisor
Lars Feld now has exclusive access to the German finance minister. This small crack in the German system should lead to a reform of the entire council of experts. Today’s Handelsblatt chief economist, Bert Rürup, proposed a reform based on the American model at the end of his tenure as chairman of the Economic Wise Men.
It can make sense for the respective government to take advice from economists who are close to their camp and their thinking. That would be exciting for the traffic light government.
Lindner is opting for a regulatory course that is intended to strengthen market forces. In the SPD, the tendency is largely towards demand economists, and the Greens talk a lot about transformation without being able to say exactly what that actually is.
Lindner and Feld have broken up structures here. It is now a matter of taking advantage of this new beginning.
More: Lars Feld criticizes the mendacious debate about government spending