Brussels, 13/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Ecofin Council decided unanimously on Monday, at its lunchtime meeting, to present the candidacy -on behalf of the EU- of Horst Köhler, current President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the post of Director General of the IMF, left vacant by François Camdessus. The Portuguese Finance Minister and President-in-Office of the Council, Joaquim Pina Moura, stated at a final press conference that the Fifteen had thus, "following the withdrawal, at his own initiative, of Caio Koch-Weser", chosen a candidate whose profile and biography match the requirements for the IMF Director General post".
In response to several questions, Mr Pina Moura added the following details:
a) "It is our conviction that our candidate will secure the necessary support to attain our objective, which is to keep a European in this job", and the Member States will "take the necessary steps to promote this candidacy";
b) referring to a statement by Bill Clinton that the United States was prepared to "support a European candidate" and that there were "no restrictions in terms of nationality", Mr Pina Moura launched: "We think the United States will respect President Clinton's commitment and support this solution", especially since Köhler is a "strong and credible candidate, who meets all the conditions for obtaining broad support". He also pointed out that this decision of the EU had been taken "without the intervention of any guardianship right", that is, without having solicited prior guarantees from Washington about the welcome that should be reserved for the new candidate. He went on to add: "We cannot envisage for one instance that the United States would wish to block a candidature such as this";
c) "The commitment taken by the finance ministers is a European commitment!" and there was a "commitment by every government to do everything possible to promote this candidature";
d) This decision was taken by unanimity and the Austrian minister "fully participated in the decision" (according to some information, Austria had not been consulted beforehand and President Prodi reportedly approached Chancellor Schüssel to avoid a deadlock. See on page 5 for the declarations of the Chancellor on his attitude in general.