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Critics of the European Central Bank have found a new way to vent their frustration, with a stream of poor ratings thrown at the Google Maps listing of its Frankfurt headquarters.
While such reviews on the search engine often focus on a building’s architecture or facilities, about half of the hundred or so left in the 10th anniversary year of its completion are complaints on the policies of President Christine Lagarde and her colleagues.
As a result, average ratings on Google Maps for the 45-story green-glass ECB tower have fallen significantly.
Its entry has also attracted more reviews in the first seven months of 2022 alone than in any previous year.
Such frustration follows a surge in inflation that reached a euro-era record of 8.9% in July, the same month the ECB lifted borrowing costs for the first time in over a decade.
The hesitation of officials to raise rates while global peers tightened has prompted criticism particularly in its home country of Germany.
One reviewer, Christoph H., posted a week ago that the ECB “is only focused on government financing through the back door.” A post by someone called Ludwig Berg a few days beforehand criticized politicians’ appointment of Lagarde, in view of “galloping inflation.” Reviews were posted in numerous languages, though many of the more critical ones were written in German.
A more comprehensive measure of sentiment has also fallen.
A Eurobarometer survey early this year found fewer euro-area respondents expressing trust in the ECB compared to a previous poll.
When the central bank’s building in the east of Frankfurt was completed in September 2012, then-Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said he hoped it would “be viewed by the people of Frankfurt, and beyond, as an enrichment of Frankfurt’s skyline and the landscape of Europe.”
While some Google reviewers may struggle to agree, there is some comfort for ECB officials.
Their former headquarters in the city center, which is next to a large euro sculpture often featured in tourist selfies and is currently used by euro-area bank supervisors, appears to enjoy greater appreciation.
The so-called Eurotower’s average rating of 4.3 stars is higher than the 3.7 points awarded to the newer building.
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