Opinion of the European Central Bank of 29 July 2010 on the careers of Deutsche Bundesbank civil servants (CON/2010/59)
Date: 2010-07-29
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Germany, central bank, civil servant, national law, professional career, vocational training

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 29 July 2010 

on the careers of Deutsche Bundesbank civil servants 

(CON/2010/59) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 7 July 2010, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Deutsche Bundesbank for 

an  opinion  on  a  draft  regulation  on  the  careers  of  Deutsche  Bundesbank  civil  servants  (hereinafter  the 

‘draft regulation’). 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 

29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft regulation relates to the Deutsche Bundesbank. In accordance with the 

first  sentence  of  Article 17.5  of  the  Rules  of  Procedure  of  the  European  Central  Bank,  the  Governing 

Council has adopted this opinion. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft regulation 

The  draft  regulation  adopts  rules  on  vocational  training  and  careers  for  Deutsche  Bundesbank  civil 

servants that take special account of the legal relationships at the Deutsche Bundesbank. 

The draft regulation is necessary because the power to regulate these issues was transferred to the Federal 

Government  (hereinafter  the  ‘Government’)  as  the  result  of  an  amendment  to  §  31  of  the  Law  on  the 

Deutsche Bundesbank made by the Law on the reorganisation and modernisation of Federal civil service 
law2, on which the ECB gave its views in Opinion CON/2008/9. 

Before the abovementioned amendment to § 31 of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank was adopted, the 

Executive  Board  of  the  Deutsche  Bundesbank  (hereinafter  the  ‘Executive  Board’)  had  the  power  to 

regulate  staff  and  career  matters  autonomously,  subject  to  approval  or  agreement,  as  applicable,  by  the 

Government. Pursuant to the amended § 31(4) and (6) of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank, however, 

the Government is authorised to regulate the legal relationships between the Deutsche Bundesbank and its 

civil servants, employees and workers either by adopting regulations itself, or by delegating the power to 

adopt regulations to the Executive Board.  

1  
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
[2009] Bundesgesetzblatt (BGBl.) I p. 160. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
Since adoption of the amendments to § 31 of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Government has 

delegated its power to the Executive Board by means of § 1 and § 2 of the Regulation on the transfer of 

the  Federal  Government’s  powers  to  adopt  regulations  pursuant  to  §  31  of  the  Law  on  the  Deutsche 
Bundesbank3.  

In this context, the ECB has been consulted by the Deutsche Bundesbank in 2009 with regard to a draft 

regulation  on  the  legal  relationships  applying  to  Deutsche  Bundesbank  staff,  which  concerned  a  draft 

regulation regulating certain features of the legal relationships between the Deutsche Bundesbank and its 

civil  servants,  employees  and  workers,  and  replacing the  Deutsche  Bundesbank’s  Staff  Regulations;  on 

11 May 2009, the ECB adopted Opinion CON/2009/45.  

The Executive Board now intends to make use of the power delegated to it by the Government to adopt 

the second draft regulation, on career matters.  

In  so  far  as  the  draft  regulation  does  not  intend  to  derogate  from  the  more  general  regulation  on  the 

careers of Federal civil servants, its relevant provisions are referred to by the draft regulation. The rules of 

this draft regulation on banking service careers, as well as on the introduction of preparation for the upper 

intermediate banking service at the Deutsche Bundesbank’s university of applied sciences, derogate from 

the Federal Regulation on public service careers.  

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The ECB welcomes this consultation request by the Deutsche Bundesbank on the draft regulation. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  principle  of  central  bank  independence  and  central  bank  autonomy  in  staff 

matters,  however,  the  ECB  would  like  to  take  this  opportunity  to  reiterate  its  concerns  about  the 

regulatory arrangements that form the basis of the draft regulation.  

2.2 

In  Opinion  CON/2008/9,  the  ECB  expressed  its  concerns  about  the  change  of  regulatory 

competence  in  relation  to  Deutsche  Bundesbank  staff  issues.  In  particular,  it  considered  that  the 

proposed amendment would increase the Government’s discretion in this context, thereby reducing 

the  Deutsche  Bundesbank’s  autonomy  to  take  decisions  concerning  its  staff  regulations.  Further, 

the ability of the Government to withdraw the delegation at any moment was considered a potential 

tool  to  unduly  influence  a  national  central  bank  (NCB)  in  fulfilling  its  tasks  and  thus  was 
considered  as  limiting  that  NCB’s  independence4.  The  ECB  therefore  recommended  including 

sufficient safeguards in the draft law under consideration to ensure that the Deutsche Bundesbank’s 

ability to carry out its tasks, particularly ESCB-related tasks, would not be affected; moreover, the 

ECB stated that it considered that the intention to delegate powers to the Deutsche Bundesbank as 

provided  for  in  the  draft  law  was  insufficient.  In  Opinion  CON/2009/45,  these  concerns  were 

restated. 

2.3  The  ECB’s  concerns  and  recommendations,  as  expressed  in  Opinions  CON/2008/9  and 

CON/2009/45, were not taken into account by the national legislator. Against this background, the 

3  
4  

[2009] BGBl. I p. 813. 
See paragraph 2.4 of Opinion CON/2008/9. All ECB opinions are available on the ECB website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

2 

 
                                                 
ECB considers it highly important to restate that an NCB’s autonomy in staff matters is a particular 
aspect of the principle of central bank independence under Article 130 of the Treaty5. As has been 

recently emphasised on several occasions regarding different Member States, an NCB may not be 

put into a position where it has limited control or no control over its staff, or where the government 
of  a  Member  State  can  influence  its  policy  on  staff  matters6.  This  stance  taken  by  the  ECB  with 

respect to the autonomy of the NCBs in staff matters is well-established practice. 

2.4 

In  this  context,  the  ECB  once  again  stresses  that,  when  it  comes  to  the  adoption  of  regulations 

regarding  staff  matters  and  the  direct  regulation  of  the  legal  relationships  between  the 

Deutsche Bundesbank  and  all  categories  of  its  staff,  including  the  careers  of  such  staff,  the 

amended  §  31  of  the  Law  on  the  Deutsche  Bundesbank  now  authorises  the  Government  both  to 

delegate  such  power  to  the  Executive  Board  and  to  withdraw  such  power  from  the  Executive 

Board. Although it was already the case prior to the amendment of § 31 in 2009 that Government 

approval was required for the adoption of regulations by the Executive Board, the ECB considers 

that  the  amended  §  31  nonetheless  amounts  to  a  withdrawal  of  the  Deutsche  Bundesbank’s 

authority to determine the legal relationships and career policies for all categories of its staff. This 

is a situation which, in comparison with the rules previously in force, is detrimental to the Deutsche 

Bundesbank’s independence.  

2.5  The ECB therefore reiterates to the national legislator and the Government its recommendation that 

the Deutsche Bundesbank should be given more autonomy in staff matters, thereby providing for 

sufficient safeguards to ensure that it can carry out all of its tasks independently, in particular its 

ESCB-related tasks.  

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 July 2010. 

[signed] 

The Vice-President of the ECB 

Vítor CONSTÂNCIO 

5  
6  

See paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2009/15. 
See ECB Convergence Report 2010, p. 23, and Opinions CON/2008/9, CON/2008/10, CON/2009/47, CON/2010/42 and 
CON/2010/51. 

3