The head of Germany's revered Ifo economics institute said in a magazine interview on Sunday that Europe's largest economy was being "marginalised" in the European Central Bank. Quoted by Der Spiegel, Hans-Werner Sinn said the development was underlined by the current absence of Germans from the bank's top executive jobs - president and lead economist.
"All the nice talk that the ECB would function according to the Bundesbank model, and that Germany, as the biggest country, would have a special role - it was all just hollow words," he said in the news weekly. The ECB decided last week to give Belgian Peter Praet the coveted economist portfolio on its executive board, denying Germany the position for the first time. Many observers saw the choice as a compromise, as Germany's Joerg Asmussen and France's Benoit Coeure, both of whom joined the board from January 1, had been seen as frontrunners for the job that brings with it responsibility for shaping monetary policy.
Praet, who joined the six-member board last year, replaces German arch-hawk Juergen Stark in the economics role - a position which oversees setting the template for ECB interest rate decisions.
With a debate raging over the ECB's controversial programme to buy bonds from euro zone states struggling to sell them, much attention has focused on its new president, Mario Draghi, and how much leeway he will allow for bond purchases. In Der Spiegel, Ifo's Sinn said he did not expect the Italian to give in to pressure to step up bond buying, but added that he expected him to push for Europe's permanent bailout fund to take up the task when it becomes operational.
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