Word: germanic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...public, Tietmeyer backs the single-currency idea. But he has been adamant in calling for strict application of the Maastricht criteria and for ironclad rules to support the euro, so that it will be as strong as the German mark. Some believe that privately he is a single-currency foe fearful of losing his power to the new European Central Bank. Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, in an extraordinary open letter last year, branded Tietmeyer's stance as anti-European. "If you continue with your stubborn policies," Schmidt wrote to the banker, "Germany will become isolated...
Such harsh criticism of a Bundesbank chief is rarely voiced in Germany. But Tietmeyer, 65, who survived an assassination attempt by the ultraleftist German Red Army Faction, is used to taking the heat for tough decisions. A senior economic-policy bureaucrat and later the top civil servant in the Finance Ministry, he was Germany's negotiator during the contentious exchange-rate talks of the 1980s. A staunch conservative on monetary policy, Tietmeyer nonetheless has supported European integration, and as far back as the 1970s sat on a committee that drafted an early plan for monetary union...
...member of the German central-bank board since 1990 and its president since 1993, Tietmeyer stresses, "I cannot defeat the euro project, and I will not defeat the project, because I'm in favor of it on condition that it is based on a stable and solid foundation." But he quickly adds, "It is my duty and responsibility to see that there are enough safeguards." One moment of truth will be early next year when Europe's central-bank governors issue their judgment on which countries have truly met the Maastricht criteria without accounting tricks. While Tietmeyer hopes...
...called Pacheco a "Schindler of East Timor", referring to the well-known German businessperson credited with saving the lives of about 1,000 German Jews during the Holo-caust...
...Switzerland. Inside, there are acres of reddish brown Tessin marble. The ornate overhead moldings frame a 20-ft. by 30-ft. skylight. A uniformed guard approaches: "Who are you? What are you doing? Identification papers, please." Is this brusque aggressiveness necessary? "I am only following orders," he says in German...