Bundesbank chief not seeking ECB post

GERMANY’S BUNDESBANK president has indicated that he will not stand as a candidate to become the next president of the European Central Bank, throwing the race to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet into confusion.

Axel Weber, an anti-inflation hardliner who had opposed some of the ECB’s emergency measures to deal with the financial crisis, had been regarded as a strong contender to replace Mr Trichet, whose non-renewable eight-year term expires at the end of October.

But it emerged yesterday that Mr Weber was unlikely to seek reappointment as the Bundesbank president next year, and people familiar with internal discussions indicated that he was considering career possibilities outside central banking – perhaps at Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank by assets.

The assumption in Berlin was that he would no longer be a candidate for ECB president, although senior officials were adamant that he would have enjoyed the backing of Angela Merkel, chancellor, in the race.

But Mr Weber has proved controversial outside Germany. In May he irritated other members of the ECB’s governing council by publicly opposing its emergency interventions in euro zone government bond markets.

“Most probably Mr Weber was out of the race because of the fact that his statements might not have been well received by other European leaders,” said Peter Vanden Houte, European economist at ING in Brussels.

Mr Weber’s withdrawal would boost the chances of Mario Draghi, Italy’s central bank president, considered his main rival.