In the future, the President of the Bundesbank will also be responsible for construction on the Board of Management.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The Bundesbank has redistributed the tasks of former board member Johannes Beermann in the management body. President Joachim Nagel will initially assume responsibility for the construction area. This also includes the controversial project of converting the Bundesbank headquarters into a campus, the Bundesbank announced. Beermann’s term of office expired on December 31, 2022.
The remodeling project is seen as a delicate task, with little to gain and much to lose. The renovation of the 217 meter long and 13 storey high headquarters and the expansion to the campus is one of the largest building construction projects in Germany.
The Bundesbank has not yet published any estimates of the costs. Insiders assume that the costs for the current plans could be twice as high as those for the 1.3 billion euro new building of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in the east of Frankfurt.
A lot has gone wrong with the construction project so far. The Bundesbank parted with the responsible project manager. There were also delays because the temporary quarters to which the employees were to move during the construction work could only be occupied two years later than planned.
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Internally, it is questioned whether the campus project is still appropriate in its current form. The plans were made before the pandemic. In the meantime, however, significantly more employees are working from home than before.
Struggle for the successor to the former Bundesbank board
Nagel had recently indicated that the previous construction plans had to be revised again. “The campus project, as you know it now, will certainly not be implemented in the same way in the end,” he said at the end of November.
It is uncertain whether Nagel will continue to assume responsibility for the construction project in the long term. So far, politicians have not been able to agree on Beermann’s successor. Hesse has the right to propose. In the black-green state government there, there has long been a struggle as to which party may nominate a candidate for the Beermann successor.
According to insiders, the Greens are supporting the former State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Philipp Nimmermann. On the other hand, the CDU would rather have its own candidate and should flirt with Michael Meister. The CDU member of the Bundestag used to be State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
After the state government was unable to agree on a candidate by the end of 2022, some in the Bundesbank fear that the nomination could drag on until after the Hessian state elections in autumn 2023.
Criticism of the nomination process
In view of the political wrangling, there has been criticism of the nomination process. For example, the citizens’ movement Finanzwende calls for the positions on the board to be advertised publicly. This is intended to ensure that the posts are filled exclusively based on qualifications and not based on the party book.
In addition to the construction department, Johannes Beermann was also responsible for cash, controlling, administration and procurement on the Bundesbank board. Burkhard Balz is now initially responsible for cash on the Management Board, while Joachim Wuermeling is responsible for controlling. In addition, Claudia Buch is now also responsible for administration and Sabine Mauderer for procurement.
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