Welteke-class spat

摘要

Two extra nights in a Berlin hotel paid for by Dresdner Bank two years ago are the unacceptable perk which will probably cost Ernst Welteke, president of the Bundesbank, his job. But not yet. The affair has turned into a slugfest between Frankfurt and Berlin over the reputation and "independence" of Germany's central bank. Until Frankfurt state attorneys have examined the case, Mr Welteke stays suspended but will not resign. At stake, say angry officials at the Bundesbank, is not so much Mr Welteke's career, as the central bank's refusal to be pushed around or to have an unwanted successor foisted on it by the government in Berlin.