Awwal 13, 1432 H/Feb 16, 2011, SPA -- Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday nominated her senior economic advisor Jens Weidmann as the new chief of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, to start May 1. "Everybody who knows Jens Weidmann knows he has the utmost expertise, that he has a brilliant intellect and that he is an independent mind," dpa quoted Merkel as saying. Merkel made the decision, in consultation with her coalition partners, after the current Bundesbank chief Axel Weber unexpectedly announced last week that he would step down on April 30. The chancellor congratulated Weidmann on his five years' work in her office, a period that encompassed the global economic crisis. In the past few years he was also her key negotiator in Group of Eight (G8) and Group of 20 (G20) consultations with leading economies. Merkel said it was hard to let Weidmann go, but she was "convinced he will be an excellent president of the Bundesbank" who would also "speak up for a culture of stability in the European Central Bank." The chancellor, who made the announcement alongside her coalition partner Guido Westerwelle of the Free Democrats and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, said Weidmann's role as her senior economic advisor would end with immediate effect.
