The Bundesbank said it will ask German President Christian Wulff to dismiss board member Thilo Sarrazin after his remarks about Muslim immigrants and Jews damaged the central bank’s reputation.
The board decided unanimously to apply to the President for Sarrazin’s dismissal, the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank said in an e-mailed statement today. It stripped Sarrazin of his responsibilities at the bank and said its official in charge of corporate governance, Uwe Schneider, fully backed the decision.
Sarrazin sparked public and political outrage when he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published Aug. 29 that Jews have “a particular gene” and that Muslims have more problems assimilating in Europe than other immigrants. In his book published this week, Sarrazin argues that poorly educated immigrants are making Germany “dumber.”
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet today condemned Sarrazin’s remarks, saying he’s “appalled,” and Chancellor Angela Merkel had previously called them “completely unacceptable.”
The Bundesbank’s six board members are appointed by the government and only the German President can remove them from office, something that has never been done before.
Wulff will examine the Bundesbank’s request and won’t comment further until the review is concluded, his office said. Merkel welcomed the Bundesbank’s decision, saying she acknowledged the move with “great respect.”
Employment Contract
Sarrazin wasn’t immediately available to comment. He could choose to fight for his position. He said this week that a Bundesbank board member “has the right to freely express himself, also on topics which are not work-related.”
“I know my employment contract, that’s for sure,” he said at a press conference in Berlin on Aug. 30 as he presented his book, the title of which translates as “Germany Wipes Itself Out.”
The Bundesbank on the same day issued a statement saying Sarrazin’s comments were damaging to its reputation and a breach of its code of conduct. The board spoke to Sarrazin before arriving at today’s decision.
While Sarrazin’s views have been decried by politicians, they have found favor in some sections of the public. Most Germans see no need to dismiss Sarrazin from the Bundesbank board, a poll showed yesterday.
Public Opinion
Fifty-one percent of 1,000 respondents said firing Sarrazin isn’t necessary, while 32 percent said he should be ousted, according to the Emnid poll taken Aug. 31 for the N24 television channel. Some 35 percent said they disagreed with Sarrazin’s arguments while 30 percent said they agreed.
In an extract of his book published in Der Spiegel magazine last month, Sarrazin wrote: “I don’t want the country of my grandchildren and forefathers to be in broad swathes Muslim, where Turkish and Arabic is widely spoken, where women wear headscarves and where the daily rhythm of life is set by the call of the muezzins.”
The 65-year old first came under pressure to step down last October, when he said in an interview with the journal Lettre International that most immigrant Turks and Arabs “keep producing more little girls in headscarves.” He later apologized for the remarks after a police investigation.
Weber, a leading candidate to replace Trichet next year, said at the time that Sarrazin had hurt the central bank’s reputation. Sarrazin, a native of Gera, Germany, joined the Bundesbank in May 2009 after seven years as Berlin’s finance minister.
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