The resignation of German Federal Bank President Axel Weber

Following the resignation last year of federal President Horst Köhler and a number of conservative state prime ministers, another key political figure has now turned his back on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Federal Bank (Bundesbank) President Axel Weber has announced his resignation effective April 30, one year before the expiry of his regular term of office.

Weber was Merkel’s candidate to succeed the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, whose term expires in October. Now, Weber is no longer available, and no replacement candidate is in sight. The presidency of the ECB, which is of strategic economic importance for Germany, is therefore expected to go to the candidate of another country. The most likely candidate is the head of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, Weber declared that the reason for his resignation was his increasing isolation within the European Union and the ECB regarding fiscal policy. His “clear position” on major decisions had “not always been beneficial for my acceptance by some governments,” he said...

Weber is an advocate of a tough monetary policy stance in the tradition of the Bundesbank prior to the introduction of the euro as a common currency. The Bundesbank saw its central task to be the defence of the stability of the deutschmark against inflation. The bank’s much-vaunted “political independence” meant that it was strictly opposed to subordinating monetary policy to social needs and measures aimed at ameliorating social tensions.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/webe-f16.shtml