ECB likely to stay in the Eurotower after all

Move to Gallileo Tower about to fail – The European Central Bank (ECB) will most likely not move into the Gallileo Tower as planned. PLATOW has learnt this from insiders. The preferred option is now to remain in the Eurotower. The central bank still intends to stick to its plan to concentrate on two instead of three large locations in the future. These would be the head office in Frankfurt’s Ostend and the Eurotower. The Executive Board of the ECB, which manages the central bank’s business, has not yet made a final decision. However, this is expected to happen shortly. In response to a PLATOW inquiry, the ECB explained: „We are still in negotiations with the owner of the Gallileo building while we continue to examine our options.“ It will probably not be easy for the central bank’s management to explain a U-turn.

At the end of September 2023, the ECB’s Executive Board explained in an email to staff that the employees from banking supervision, who are currently spread across the Eurotower and the Japan Centre, would move to the Gallileo Tower in future. ECB management justified the decision by stating that the introduction of desk sharing and the restriction to two buildings instead of three would save costs and emissions. „The restructuring will enable us to improve the utilisation of our buildings and reduce our rental and maintenance costs. It will also reduce our carbon footprint. “ In October 2023, the central bank put the estimated savings from the move at over 140 million euros over ten years.

The turnaround that is now emerging in the ECB’s building plans comes at a sensitive time. In a survey conducted by the ECB trade union IPSO, staff at the central bank have sharply criticised Christine Lagarde’s management. Remaining in the Eurotower could now cause additional trouble. The building, which was built in the early 1970s, has repeatedly experienced problems, such as heating faults or legionella. The maintenance costs are therefore likely to remain high. jam