CHANTILLY (France), July 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he will lead talks on finding a single European
candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The post of IMF managing director, which by convention goes to a European, became vacant after Lagarde was tapped by EU leaders to head the European Central Bank.
Finance ministers of the four European members of the G7 — Germany,
France, Britain and Italy — met informally on the sidelines of the meeting
of the most developed nations in Chantilly outside Paris to discuss the
issue.
At the same time, the British, Italian and German ministers agreed that Le
Maire, whose country currently leads the G7, should head informal discussions with all European countries to “foster a consensus” around a single name.
Le Maire, who has made clear he does not want the job himself, confirmed
after the meeting he will take on the search.
“What we will try and do in the next days is to coordinate positions so
that we have a consensus on a candidate by the end of July,” he said.
The IMF board tapped Lagarde’s number two, American David Lipton, to serve as interim managing director, but by tradition a European always leads the fund while an American runs its sister institution, the World Bank. — NNN-AGENCIES
