Rudolf Scharping is to blame. In early nineties, Scharping was in Rhineland-Palatinate with FDP under Rainer Bruederle Coalesces, and Jörg Kukies did not fit at all. He was n head of Jusos and had campaigned for an alliance with Greens.

Kukies turned away from politics. He studied at Harvard, earned a doctorate in Chicago, and n went to Goldman Sachs, American investment Bank, who is as famous for her ruthless recruitment tests as for her exorbitant bonus payments. At Goldman he quickly ascended, most recently leading bank's branch in Frankfurt am Main. As Secretary of state, he will not have to accept insignificant salary losses, but money is not everything in life, especially for someone who has earned as much of it as he does. And when you talk to Kukies, you feel: for politics he still burns – scharping back and forth –. His SPD party book, in any case, Kukies never gave up.

So he promised when Scholz asked him if he could imagine change to Treasury. The contact came about by Andrea Nahles, who had replaced Kukies as Juso boss in Rhineland-Palatinate. In nineties, in Mainz, he had stopped-charcoal posters painted – The basis for a friendly relationship that has been held over years.

Kukies is considered pragmatic, solution-oriented and extremely hardworking, at Goldman he was always in office before seven o'clock and stayed until late at night. In Ministry of Finance, he will take care of European policy and regulation of financial markets. And he will meet some former companions: Mario Draghi, president of European Central Bank, was also at Goldman, as did Mark Carney, Governor of Bank of England, and Steven Mnuchin, American finance minister.

This is not a coincidence, because gold men are generally capable and willing to perform, and Goldman Sachs likes to see it when former people switch to politics. This is good for reputation and ensures best connections in tips of politics and administration. However, it also repeatedly sparks discussions that bank is using se connections for its own benefit, whereby – and this is also part of truth – re is no evidence of this in most cases.

This article comes from time No. 13/2018. Here you can read entire output.

Scholz has calculated that his decision would be criticized, it says in his environment. He has brought Jörg Kukies because he wants to have someone at his side who knows how financial markets really work and his knowledge of interest rates and share prices not only from university lectures. The planned reform of European Monetary Union could eventually have significant consequences for financing of States and business of financial institutions. Nothing's going to go wrong.

In addition, Treasury Department is responsible for controlling banks, and Kukies knows tricks of bankers. In this regard, Jörg Kukies is right man for Olaf Scholz – if it is clear that he is also on right side.

Date Of Update: 23 March 2018, 12:03