Even almost three months after Lars Feld left the Expert Council for the Assessment of Macroeconomic Development (SVR), the four remaining council members were unable to agree on a new chairman.

Johannes Pennekamp

Responsible editor for economic reporting, responsible for “Die Lounge”.

  • Follow I follow

    Niklas Záboji

    Editor in business.

    • Follow I follow

      As the council announced on Tuesday, the “economic wise men” Monika Schnitzer, Veronika Grimm, Volker Wieland and Achim Truger have now agreed that “they will lead the council together until further notice”.

      A “rotating representation regulation” ensures “that the council remains fully administratively capable of action during this period”.

      The brief message left an open question as to who will now, for example, chair the meetings of the committee or sign employment contracts of employees of the council first.

      Apparently there should be a monthly rotation in alphabetical order.

      This means that energy and behavioral economist Veronika Grimm (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) will take on the task first.

      Muddled situation

      Unlike the members, the chairman of the council of experts is not appointed by the federal government, but is elected by the council members from among its members. According to reports, a stalemate prevented this from succeeding. Achim Truger, nominated by the trade unions for the council, is said to have supported the Munich economist Monika Schnitzer. On the other hand, Volker Wieland (Goethe University Frankfurt), once proposed by employers for the council, had the backing of Veronika Grimm.

      Nothing changed in this messy situation when Wieland and Grimm swapped roles and Grimm wanted to take over the chair himself. The power struggle in the advisory body of the federal government is now ending with a compromise that will only be overcome when the federal government appoints a fifth member to succeed Lars Feld, the last chairman of the council.

      Feld left the council after ten years at the end of February.

      Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) would have liked to keep the ordoliberals in the council, although this is unusual after two five-year terms of office have expired.

      Another term of office of the Freiburg researcher was opposed to the SPD, which would have liked to appoint an economist like Marcel Fratzscher close to its economic policy positions to the committee - which in turn blocked the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

      Practical consequences

      Eventually, Feld had to go, which Altmaier described as an “unfortunate loss”.

      Feld himself would have liked to continue in the council during the difficult time of the pandemic and commented on his departure in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung by saying that for many in the SPD he was "a red rag", "as much as the party has moved to the left" .

      It is currently unlikely that the fifth place in the council will be filled before the general election in September.

      Various names have been circulating recently, but as reported from government circles, the ideas of the Union and the SPD are still far apart.

      And unlike the election of their chairman, the council members themselves have no influence on the composition.

      The political squabble over the most important economic policy body in the country is already having practical consequences.

      Preparations for the several hundred-page annual report, which is always published in the first half of November, have begun, and the setting of topics has started.

      And with the departure of the economically liberal economist Feld, the trade unionist Truger is the only remaining financial scientist on the council. Passages on tax and social policy in the upcoming annual report should therefore bear a significantly more Keynesian signature than last.