‘Prime minister stopped central bank favourite getting top job’

Prime minister Mark Rutte intervened to stop the favourite candidate to take over the presidency of the Dutch central bank from getting the job, the NRC reports on Friday.


The paper says Rutte vetoed Lex Hoogduin’s appointment because ‘he is not suitable for political discussion and incapable of introducing the desirable company culture reform’.
Only after Rutte’s veto was Klaas Knot, then a senior finance ministry official, put forward for the job.
Political sources
Hoogduin quit the bank, where he was on the management board, after Knot’s appointment.
The Financieele Dagblad also said at the time that Hoogduin was opposed by political sources in The Hague.
According to the NRC Rutte’s involvement in appointing the new central bank chief is extremely unusual.

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