SOURCE: POLITICO
PHOTO by Mat via Pexels<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want these people anymore,\u201d top central bank official Frank Elderson told an internal meeting, POLITICO can reveal. Lagarde says she stands by him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FRANKFURT \u2015 A top European Central Bank official stunned employees by saying people who don\u2019t buy into the institution\u2019s green objectives aren\u2019t welcome to work there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Elderson, one of six members of the ECB\u2019s executive board, told an internal meeting: \u201cI don\u2019t want these people anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His comments, verified by POLITICO, have sparked outrage among ECB staff, who described them as \u201cauthoritarian\u201d and said they showed a free and open discussion about climate change \u2015 and the role the bank should play in tackling it \u2015 was no longer possible at the Frankfurt-based organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the meeting earlier this month, Elderson asked employees \u2015 some in person, some online \u2015 \u201cWhy would we want to hire people who we have to reprogram? Because they came from the best universities, but they still don\u2019t know how to spell the word \u2018climate.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone already working at the ECB should be retrained, Elderson added. He insisted he was “not threatening anyone,” and did not expand on what he meant by being able to “spell” climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutchman\u2019s remarks have broader significance because the ECB is embroiled in a debate \u2015 internally and among Europe\u2019s politicians \u2015 over how much its policies should steer toward making the economy “greener,” or whether it should just stick to its main goal of keeping eurozone prices stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comments drew an angry reaction from employees who took to a private chatroom for bank staff. Their responses were also seen by POLITICO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elderson, who is the bank\u2019s climate czar and vice-chair of its supervisory arm, \u201ckilled the ideal of diversity and inclusion in one sentence,\u201d said one member of staff. \u201cI thought these underpinned the culture of this institution.\u201d They described the Dutchman\u2019s comments as \u201cauthoritarian.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others warned his comments risked fostering \u201cgroupthink,\u201d which would impair the ECB\u2019s decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n