Buba calls for Sarrazin to be sacked over racist comments

The executive board of the Bundesbank on Thursday voted unanimously to recommend the dismissal of Thilo Sarrazin, one of its members.

The five member board, which includes Axel Weber, the president of the central bank, and Franz-Christoph Zeitler, its vice president, came to the decision after Sarrazin made anti-Semitic remarks in an interview with Welt am Sonntag, a Sunday newspaper. "All Jews share a particular gene, [and] Basques share a certain gene that sets them apart," Sarrazin said.

Recommending a board member's dismissal to the German President is the highest form of disciplinary action available to the Bundesbank under its charter, and is reserved for situations in which an official has committed serious professional misconduct. Only President Christian Wulff can appoint or remove board members. The step has never been taken before.

The government of Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, must also approve the decision. Merkel, Guido Westerwelle, her deputy chancellor, Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, and Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, the country's defence minister, have all condemned Sarrazin's remarks and called for his removal over the course of the week.

The central bank on Monday took the unprecedented step of publicly denouncing Sarrazin's remarks, saying there was "no place for discrimination at the Bundesbank," and that he had disrupted the working environment at the central bank, which employs many non-native staff. Sarrazin has, on various occasions, caused a stir with racially disparaging remarks about Arab, Middle Eastern, Turkish and African people, saying on occasion that immigrants from these backgrounds were dragging down the general level of intelligence in Germany.

While the central bank stripped him of the prestigious cash management portfolio as a punishment last October, it had, until Monday, refrained from taking an explicit, official stand on Sarrazin's comments.

Following the reduction of his portfolio is October, Sarrazin had responsibility for risk control, audit and information technology. These departments have been handed over to Zeitler, Weber and Rudolf Böhmler, respectively, the Bundesbank said.

It is not known when President Wulff will make the final decision.