In response to an FT View on 13th April 2016, entitled 'Germany should keep its hands off the ECB'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c2cacce-0164-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e62.html#ixzz45k5R0zuz
"When France feels the need to lecture Germany on the need to respect central bank independence, it should be clear something has gone substantially awry...Central bank independence is a thornier issue now than then (the 1990s)"
There's nothing thorny about it - it simply doesn't exist. What's happening here is that a central bank is getting pressure from a group of politicians that disagree with its Neo-Keynesian economic policies. They much prefer cosy chats with politicians who want them to juice the banking system a bit more. Doing business with politicians from a different 'club' is not what the PhD ordered.
Next you'll be telling us that Janet Yellen called a closed meeting of the Fed on Monday, followed by a 'summoned trip' to the White House to have a nice chat about 'how she's doing in general', and that there was no mention of interest rate policy leading up to an election that they, and she, and Wall Street, are desperate for Hillary Clinton to win...and that they, and she, and Wall Street are desperate for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to lose. Or maybe you'll tell us that central bankers are not political, or that politics is a high integrity game played by people who tell the truth.
Central Banks are independent of governments in the same way that ex-Goldman US Treasury Secretaries are passionate about the interests of Joe Sixpack, and would never dream of doing anything to favour their old firm whilst in office.