Brussels, 09/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - This Tuesday, the Finance Ministers of the Twenty-Seven will discuss the question of who will succeed Rodrigo Rato at the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but will not arrive at any decision just yet. “I am not expecting a name to come from tomorrow's meeting, but we will see”, said a source close to the Portuguese Presidency, which confirms that an exchange of views on the issue is soon to take place within the Ecofin Council. Informal contacts will then follow to find a European candidate for the post of Director-General of the IMF, a post which will be vacant from October, further to Mr Rato's announced resignation.
On Monday, the Board of the IMF met informally to discuss the selection process for the future Director-General. This is a process which comes in for considerable criticism from the emerging countries and many observers, resenting the hold of the Europeans and the Americans over the Bretton-Woods institutions, the leadership of which they share between them.
The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who presented France's budgetary strategy to the Eurogroup on Monday evening, has already put forward the name of the former Socialist Finance Minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. According to Mr Sarkozy, this application has already been discussed with his American counterpart, George W. Bush, and with the British, Spanish and Italian Prime Ministers, and has gone down well with Germany. Berlin will make its position official after a government meeting on Wednesday, according to the German Secretary Of State for Finance, Thomas Mirrow.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, however, has not yet announced his intentions and several other names have been put into the hat in recent days, including those of the former President of the Polish Central Bank, Leszek Balcerowicz, the Italian Finance Minister, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and the current governor of the Banca Italia, Mario Draghi, who is believed to have turned down the offer. There are other choices as well, according to the diplomats, such as the former Dutch Finance Minister, Gerrit Zalm, and the former Commissioner with responsibility for Competition, Mario Monti. Speaking through a spokesperson, the European Commission declined to make any comment on the potential applications, but “we hope that the countries of the EU will agree on a European candidate”. (ab)