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Central banker Mersch: Luxembourg bon vivant
Photo: Tim Wegner / LAIF
On August 22nd, 2017, Yves Mersch is going on a special kind of business trip to Salzburg.
In the city of Mozart, the board member of the European Central Bank (ECB) takes part in a dinner of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ). It deals with semi-explosive topics such as "excessive bureaucratic regulations for small and medium-sized companies" and "the current global economic situation".
The evening program, orchestrated and paid for by the WKÖ, appears to be more attractive.
As part of the Salzburg Festival, "Aida" will be performed in the Great Festival Hall.
Mersch takes his wife with him to the world-famous Verdi opera, because the WKÖ has invited her too.
According to the ECB regulations, the central bank covers the travel expenses of the spouses, provided they are officially invited.
The next day, the ECB announced today, Mersch had an exchange with the Oesterreichische Nationalbank - "on topics that fell within his area of responsibility at the ECB".
In the evening we went back to Frankfurt by plane.
According to the booking documents, the Merschs were in business class on the short-haul return flight.
The ECB puts the travel costs at EUR 3474.06.
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