FRANKFURT—Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, a relentless critic of the European Central Bank’s ultra easy monetary policy, will step down more than five years early, opening the door for Germany’s new government to pick a less confrontational successor.
Weidmann said he would leave for personal reasons on Dec. 31, just days after the ECB must make a crucial decision on winding down pandemic-era stimulus that has revived growth but also pushed inflation to its highest rate in over a decade.
Among the most conservative members of the ECB’s Governing Council, Weidmann often found himself in opposition to fellow euro zone policymakers during his decade heading the German central bank.
He even warned about inflation risks in his farewell message to Bundesbank staff on Wednesday, saying: “It will be crucial not to look one-sidedly at deflationary risks, but not to lose sight of prospective inflationary dangers either.”
The successor to Weidmann, a former economic advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, will be picked by a new German government, to be formed when coalition talks conclude.
ECB-watchers said potential Bundesbank chiefs include Claudia Buch, currently Weidmann’s deputy, economists Volker Wieland, Marcel Fratzscher, Lars Feld, Lars-Hendrik Röller, and current Bundesbank chief economist Jens Ulbrich.
Isabel Schnabel, an ECB board member, is also a potential successor, although she would need to quit her current role, which some argue is a higher-profile job.
Conflict
After taking charge at the Bundesbank in May 2011 as the euro zone’s debt crisis raged, Weidmann was frequently in a minority at the ECB, voting against major policy moves pushed through by ECB chiefs Mario Draghi and Christine Lagarde.
In July, the 53-year-old was among a handful of policymakers that opposed the ECB’s pledge to keep interest rates at record lows until inflation stabilises at 2 percent.
