And it still is – to say the least! These close working relationships form the remarkable team spirit which exists within the Executive Board. But, and that is perhaps less well known, from time to time Otmar and I talked about Goethe’s poems, Heine’s “Lorelei” and about literature and poetry in general.
He must have been thinking about these intense, even though short, poetry discussions when he rather unconventionally asked me, a fellow central banker, to give a lecture on European cultural diversity.