New German ECB director Isabel Schnabel: For some a provocation

Since October 1, Isabel Schnabel has been silenced, at least on Twitter. Germany's future representative in the leadership of the European Central Bank (ECB) uses the social media platform extensively and passionately to make its voice heard in economic debates - and occasionally to complain.

But she is still a member of the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR) for the assessment of the overall economic situation ("Five Ways"). And until the SVR publishes its new annual report on November 6, the councils are no longer allowed to comment publicly, at least not on economic issues. Incidentally, there are similar periods of silence for members of the Council and the Executive Board of the ECB regarding interest-rate decisions. In this respect, the conversion should not be difficult.

This also applies to the monetary policy orientation of the central bank, which Schnabel will help shape in the future. It is to replace the wishes of the federal government Sabine Lautenschläger in the six-member ECB board, which is virtually the board of the authority. Lautenschläger had recently surprisingly announced her resignation, probably out of frustration over the line by Mario Draghi. Against the opposition of Germany and other countries, the outgoing ECB president has pushed for the ECB to resume its controversial bond purchases in order to lower capital market rates and thus stimulate growth in the eurozone.

Schnabel's previous statements on monetary policy suggest that, by and large, she agrees with Draghi's course. And since Draghi's successor, Christine Lagarde, wants to stick to the policy of ultra-loose interest rates and bond purchases, Schnabel will not be able to flee for ideological reasons, as some German central bankers before her.

"In Germany, the ECB is constantly being made a scapegoat"

On the contrary: for a large part of the German public, which is fixed on the Bundesbank and its orthodox monetary policy stance, Schnabel is a provocation dar. That particularly operated by the "Bild" newspaper ECB bashing recently criticized them in the "Handelsblatt" unusually sharp "But that politicians, journalists and bankers reinforce the narrative, the ECB steal their money to the German savers, that is dangerous, something will take revenge," said Schnabel. In the UK, the EU has been scapegoated for years, which now leads to Brexit. "In Germany, the ECB is constantly being made a scapegoat."

Also in the discussion about the European payment system "Target 2" she takes a position that has to disappoint many. After all, Germany's negative "Target 2" balance is a ticking time bomb in some circles, which is flying around the ears of the Federal Republic in a breakup of the Eurozone, because the country will remain on horrendous debts, especially southern European banks - an ideal breeding ground for conspiracy theories read here).

The debate was characterized by misunderstandings and misrepresentations, said Schnabel, however, in the summer in a public hearing of the Bundestag finance committee. From the Target system went "no significant risks for the German taxpayer" from. Since then, rest is on the "Target" front.

That Schnabel can prevail proved it in the five-member SVR. In content-related debates with her four male colleagues, they argued robustly and at eye level, using public relations as the first of the "wise men" to take advantage of the opportunity provided by social media platforms such as Twitter. "She likes to explain, has mission awareness and is strategically very adept at positioning herself," says a former employee. "I'm not surprised her change to the ECB."

I am honored to have been nominated by the German Federal Government as Executive Director of the European Central Bank. Of course, this is just the beginning of a longer process. 1.2

The conscientiousness has its price. "She works incredibly hard and sleeps too little, as she finds herself," says the ex-colleague about the mother of three daughters, who shares the family work reasonably parity with her husband. Sometimes she can even connect both worlds together. For example, when she once managed to win over her eldest daughter to a school internship at the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, where SVR sits.

Anyway, she's set herself to get more women excited about science, if only to pacify the conversation culture she finds "quite aggressive." She shares that with her future boss Lagarde; the Frenchwoman wants to take care of more diversity in the ECB. As well as improved communication with the public - a discipline that Draghi has neglected. In Twitter fan Schnabel Lagarde should have found a veritable teammate.