Apparently, not only German companies are suffering from an acute shortage of skilled workers, but also the Bundesbank. At least at the moment there are many indications that it will not be possible to fill the looming gap on the central bank’s executive board by the end of the year.
Johannes Beermann’s contract, who is responsible for the areas of cash and controlling, among other things, will then expire. The search for a successor drags on because of the usual haggling over political posts.
Three of the six positions in Federal Bank– Board determines the federal government. The three remaining occupations are proposed by the federal states, which take turns in nominating.
Hesse has the right to propose the Beermann successor. Unfortunately, the black-green state government has not been able to decide for weeks which of the two parties is allowed to nominate a candidate for the Bundesbank leadership. So far, so dusty.
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The problem isn’t the candidates’ party affiliation – they usually lose it very quickly once they get to the central bank. A phenomenon known as the Becket Effect, which dates back to Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England in the twelfth century, Henry II. Becket was known as a harsh critic of the Church before becoming a loyal servant of the religious establishment after his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury .
Open tenders for top positions at the Bundesbank instead of political haggling
The political selection process is still a problem because it does not always produce the best possible candidates. Just remember Ernst Welteke, who was once promoted to the post of President of the Bundesbank by the SPD. Welteke had to leave in 2004 because he had accepted invitations from corporations such as Dresdner Bank and BMW. Or Thilo Sarrazin, whom the Bundesbank wanted to remove from the board after highly controversial statements on the subject of migration before he left himself.
>> Read here: Bundesbank threatens a gap in the board – politicians are arguing about a new appointment
What the Bundesbank needs is an open advertisement for its top positions. The final selection of the best candidates could then be made, for example, by the Finance Committee of the Bundestag. This would mean that the countries would lose their influence, but this restriction of federalism would be manageable in view of the fact that monetary policy is now being made by the European Central Bank anyway.
Other central banks have made further progress with their personnel policies. The Bank of England, for example, has long since placed international job advertisements for some of its top positions.
And if you are in the process of reforming the appointment process for the Bundesbank executive board, then you could also immediately consider whether a national central bank in the age of the euro really needs six executive positions or whether four would do.
More: Bundesbank president for shrinking ECB bond holdings