BREAKINGVIEWS-Stark resignation won't alter ECB policy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Reuters - 09/09/2011 16:58:38                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      By Pierre Briançon  
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The unexpected  departure of  its chief economist is only the latest sign of ECB  divisions on the  debt crisis. His opposition to bond buying was  already public. Stark's  decision will accelerate the changing of  the guard in Frankfurt, but it  won't affect the ECB's course.
Full view will be published shortly.
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CONTEXT NEWS  
-- Juergen Stark, a member of the European Central Bank's  executive  board, will resign from his position, the ECB said in  a statement on  Sept. 9.
-- Stark informed ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet that he  was leaving "for personal reasons", the bank said.
-- The ECB statement confirmed an earlier Reuters report  from euro zone  sources. It cited Stark's fierce opposition to  the resumption of the  ECB's bond-buying programme, which came  after euro zone members agreed  on a second bailout package for  Greece on July 21.
-- Stark had been appointed to the ECB's board in June, 2006  for what should have been an eight-year term.
-- Reuters story: Stark to leave ECB over bond-buying  row-sources (
news)  
-- Reuters PROFILE-ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark  (
news)  
 (The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions  expressed are his own)  
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(Editing by Robert Cole and David Evans)