Strasbourg, 08/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - In a debate in plenary at the European Parliament on Monday 6 June 2011 about the selection procedure for the new executive head of the International Monetary Fund, most MEPs backed the candidacy of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to become the new head. Jean-Paul Gauzes (EPP, France) said it was important for the EU to come out strongly and unanimously in support of Lagarde. This view was not openly contradicted by the Socialists, Liberals or the European Commission. On behalf of the Greens/EFA, Belgium's Philippe Lamberts regretted the ignoring of a window of opportunity to make the selection process properly transparent. Jürgen Klute (GUE/NGL, Germany) described as 'feudal' the system whereby the EU and the US share the top jobs of the IMF and the World Bank among themselves. Unlike the views of EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, commenting on representation of the eurozone in international financial institutions, French Socialist MEP Pervenche Berès took the view that Europeans should now seize the bull by the horns as: “the currency war can, today, sweep away in one go all the efforts that people in the eurozone are being asked to make under austerity measures and in order to recover the sovereign debt situations”, she said.. (M.B./transl.fl)