On June 1, new boy Jürgen Stark slipped into the seat on the European Central Bank executive board that fellow former Bundesbanker Otmar Issing had vacated the day before, but not into Issing’s shoes. The number one item on ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet’s agenda that day was to secure the support of his five colleagues on the board for an extensive reshuffling of their job portfolios that would include, among other changes, the splitting of Issing’s twin responsibilities for economics and research, as foreshadowed in this column a month ago. Significantly, Stark won the key slot of economics, while vice-president Lucas Papademos took on responsibility for research.
Succession and credibility
Although the post of chief economist – a title bestowed on Issing by...
