Washington, 23/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The management board of the International Monetary Fund unanimously appointed Mr Horst Köhler, of German nationality, to the post of director general. He was the candidate for the European Union as a whole, or rather its second candidate, as the first (Mr Koch-Weser) withdrew because of opposition from the United States.
Mr Köhler's appointment puts an end to several months of discussions and confirms: a) the existence of an almost unanimous consensus on the fact that the director general of the IMF should preferably be European; b) the agreement of the United States on this subject, the American reservation about the previous German candidate having been justified by the statement of fact that Mr Koch-Weser was not, according to Washington, sufficiently qualified for the task.