Jens Weidmann steps down from the Bundesbank

INMARIO DRAGHI,ECBECBECB 2012 then head of the European Central Bank (), vowed to do “whatever it takes” to keep Europe’s single currency together. His biggest foe in this endeavour was not the bond vigilantes sending yields spiralling in Greece and Italy—they were soon cowed—but a sceptical colleague. Jens Weidmann, who as head of the Bundesbank was one of the strongest voices on the ’s governing council (where central-bank governors from euro-zone members sit), responded to Mr Draghi’s gambit with a homily on the dangers of money-printing drawn from Goethe’s . He threatened to resign.Nine years later, he has done so. On October 20th, just two years into his second eight-year term as Bundesbank president, Mr Weidmann unexpectedly announced that he would step down at the end of the year. His departing statement, which warned about the side-effects of loose monetary policy, hinted at his unhappiness about the ’s bond-buying. Mr Weidmann has long feared that the bank’s activism underplayed inflationary risks and eased pressure on indebted southern European countries to reform.