Asmussen’s Pensions Pivot Tests Hunger for Top Office

Joerg Asmussen’s new political masters in Berlin are making him eat his central banker’s words.

As deputy German labor minister, Asmussen has been put in charge of making good on the government’s pledge to lower the retirement age to 63 from 67 for some workers. That contrasts with his stance at the European Central Bank, where he warned as recently as last summer that Germany risked relapsing into economic stagnation if its competitive edge slipped.