German Bundesbank Head To Step Down Early

BERLIN (AP) - The head of Germany's Bundesbank, who was long a favorite to become the European Central Bank's next president, is stepping down a year early for personal reasons, the government said Friday.

The government announced Axel Weber's decision to quit on April 30 after the Bundesbank president met behind closed doors with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, following days of confusion over his future.

Merkel and Schaeuble "took note of this decision with respect for Prof. Weber's personal reasons," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a brief statement, adding that a successor would be named next week.

Neither the government nor the Bundesbank would provide immediate elaboration or discuss Weber's future plans. A similarly terse Bundesbank statement also cited unspecified personal reasons.

Neither mentioned the ECB presidency, for which Weber had never been formally proposed, but recent days' events had made his candidacy look increasingly unlikely.

Weber, 53, unexpectedly indicated earlier this week that he may not seek a new eight-year term at the Bundesbank when his current one expires next year, but otherwise stayed silent on his future ahead of Friday's meeting.

European leaders will have to agree on a new president for the ECB, which sets interest rates for the 17-nation eurozone and has been central to fighting its debt crisis, before Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet's eight-year term expires at the end of October.

Weber had long been viewed as a front-runner, along with Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi.

Speaking before Friday's meeting, Schaeuble insisted Trichet's succession should be discussed only once Europe has agreed on reforms to buttress the eurozone's stability.

When those issues are resolved, "we can move on to the question of who would be the best possible candidate," he said. "Not earlier."

Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, has been widely viewed as wanting the ECB's top job. Schaeuble, however, said: "Germany has never declared that it insists on a German candidate."

Italy has been more forthcoming in backing Draghi.

"To us, it's not a national question," Italy's finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, told reporters in Rome on Friday. "It's about professional capability, and we believe the hypothesis we are making is a highly qualified one."

Referring to Draghi, Tremonti said that "we believe the Italian candidacy is a great one and it will be supported by the government."

Weber, who is a member of the ECB's governing council in his capacity as Bundesbank president, has been an advocate of tough steps to prevent inflation but not always a diplomat.

He voiced unease over the ECB's program, launched last year, to buy bonds of troubled eurozone countries and has called for the program to be stopped.

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said he greatly regretted Weber's decision to quit.

The Bundesbank president represented and defended "a monetary policy oriented toward price stability and so stabilized the indispensable confidence of business and citizens in inflation-free growth," Bruederle said.

"He helped shape the course of the ECB in situations that were not always easy," he added. "He deserves respect and thanks for that."

The opposition Social Democrats' parliamentary leader, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, urged the government to seek another German candidate for the ECB job, Der Spiegel magazine reported on its website.

He charged that the government had bypassed Weber on European policy issues, and said that "Merkel let her candidate down - now he is drawing the consequences."

Weber, an economics professor with no party affiliation, was chosen for the Bundesbank job in 2004 under Merkel's center-left predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder. He replaced Ernst Welteke, who resigned amid criticism for accepting a hotel stay paid by for a commercial bank.