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With Géraldine Thiry, the French-speaking Greens of Ecolo have, for the first time, forced representation on the board of the National Bank.

Not only does this bring a woman into the male bastion, she also belongs to the degrowth or postgrowth current - to save the climate, we must abandon economic growth as a goal - which is at odds with the dominant ideology within the NBB.

In the news: Today, Sept. 1 is also the first "school day" for economist Géraldine Thiry (b. 1982) as one of five executives under Governor Pierre Wunsch at the National Bank. She will be in charge of the General Statistics Department and the Settlement Unit for capsized banks and is also the only woman on the executive committee.

  • The NBB is not entirely new to her, as she has already served on the bank's board of regents, so to speak, since 2021.
  • She replaces highly regarded board member Jean Hilgers, who wanted a new six-year term at the NBB, but had to give way to Thiry because of political balances. Hilgers is labeled Les Engagés, while Thiry is close to government party Ecolo.
  • Hilgers gets the title of "honorary director" as a consolation prize for two decades of service.

The broader picture:

  • The executive committee was fully politicized, led by Governor Pierre Wunsch (ex-chief of cabinet of MR chief Didier Reynders) and Deputy Governor Steven Vanackere (ex-finance minister for CD&V).
  • But Ecolo was not represented and pushed for a seat within the Vivaldi government. The NBB's board of regents initially still refused her appointment, but that was by the federal government early this year.

"Outgrowing"

Clash of ideas: As a lecturer in economics at the Brussels college ICHEC, Thiry, a specialist in sustainable economics and poverty, emerged as a supporter of the degrowth movement: society must consume less and "outgrow" in order to reduce pressure on the climate, is the main thesis. The theory has a large following in green-left circles, but is labeled by the business community.

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