Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel is urging people to hurry up and fill open positions on the board of the German central bank. “As an independent central bank, the Bundesbank has important tasks to fulfill within the framework of its mandate for price and financial stability,” Nagel told the Handelsblatt according to the preliminary report. “Vacancies on the board should therefore not remain unfilled for a long period of time.” Most recently, Bundesbank Vice President Claudia Buch received support from Brussels for her nomination as the future ECB chief banking supervisor. However, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU still have to agree. If Buchs were to change, three of the six Bundesbank board positions would be vacant.
The position of deputy head of the Bundesbank will be filled at the suggestion of the federal government. It is said that no one is a favorite for this yet Handelsblatt in government circles. The newspaper also reports that it is conceivable that Bundesbank board member Sabine Mauderer will be promoted to vice president. Further candidates would be the chief economist of the KfW state bank, Fritzi Köhler-Geib, and Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP).
A board position at the Bundesbank had already become vacant at the end of 2022 when Johannes Beermann left. Joachim Wuermeling is also leaving at the end of this year. The federal government has the right to propose the top management of the central bank and another board position. For the other three positions, it is the responsibility of the federal states to nominate candidates in rotation.
The federal states of Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, governed by black-green coalitions, had agreed to swap their right to make proposals in light of the state elections in Hesse in the fall. North Rhine-Westphalia, instead of Hesse, should fill Beermann’s position, which will have become vacant at the end of 2022. According to its own statements, it will then be Hesse’s turn to propose Wuermeling’s successor.