BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel has no problem with
the fact that the country’s new representative on the ECB’s Executive
Board, Joerg Asmussen, did not become chief economist of the central
bank, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
The ECB announced Tuesday that board member Peter Praet, a Belgian,
would assume the position of chief economist previously held by German
nationals, most recently Juergen Stark.
Asmussen will be responsible for international and European
relations, representing the central bank, along with President Mario
Draghi or Vice President Vitor Constancio, at the Eurogroup of EMU
finance ministers, the Ecofin of EU finance ministers and the G-20.
“The chancellor does not view this in any way as a defeat,”
government spokesman Georg Streiter said at a regular press conference
here. “She can live very well with this,” he added.
Merkel knows that there do not exist any fiefdoms on the ECB board,
Streiter explained. “One country cannot always have a certain post,” he
said.
Asmussen got a “key post” on the ECB board, Streiter stressed.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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