[stop-imf] IMF succession race - US opposes German

[Robert Weissman]

German Nominated To Lead IMF
Tue, 15 Feb 2000
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union finance ministers plan to propose
German Deputy Finance Minister Caio Koch-Weser as the EU's candidate for the
top post at the International Monetary Fund, the EU presidency spokesman
said Tuesday.
Manuel Meneses, spokesman for the Portuguese EU presidency, said the 15 EU
foreign ministers reached a consensus to back Koch-Weser during a meeting of
EU foreign affairs Monday.
The consensus was reached after France withdrew its opposition to the German
candidate, Meneses said.
The finance ministers will make a formal decision on Koch-Weser's candidacy
at their Feb. 28 meeting in Brussels, he said.
Monday, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said France would support the
EU's candidate.
Koch-Weser is the leading candidate to succeed France's Michel Camdessus,
who has held the job as IMF director for 13 years and steps down this week.
Koch-Weser has been strongly backed by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
to succeed Camdessus.
France never officially blocked Koch-Weser's candidacy, but French diplomats
had expressed doubts about the German minister's ability to handle the job,
saying he lacked a high profile and hard-core financial background.
Koch-Weser, who worked for 26 years at the World Bank, has said that it was
``absolute nonsense'' that he wouldn't be able to handle the job.


US opposes German candidate for IMF leadership
WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (AFP) - The US Treasury is against German Caio Koch-Weser
becoming director of the International Monetary Fund, despite his backing by
European Union foreign relations ministers, a senior US official said.
US backing for a European candidate to the IMF leadership is contingent on
widespread support for the person nominated elsewhere around the world, the
senior official told AFP.
A Treasury Department spokesman made no comment on the EU candidate to
replace Frenchman Michael Camdessus, who after 13 years as IMF general
director stepped down in November for personal reasons.
Since then, the fund has been headed by its deputy general director Stanley
Fischer.
Another IMF official said there were no grounds for media stories and rumors
that Fisher had US backing to take over the fund's top post.
Tradition has it that a European heads the IMF, while an American is in
charge of the World Bank, and nothing will change that for the moment, said
Fred Bergsten, head of the Institute for International Economics, White
House aide and former treasury secretary under US president Jimmy Carter
(1976-1980)
IMF chiefs are usually selected behind the political scenes in Europe, but
the United States is kept abreast throughout the entire process.
Japan, the world's second-largest economy and member of the Group of Seven
most industrialized nations, has little input in the selection of an IMF
chief, Bergsten said.
The analyst suggested that at a time of economic globalization, the best
candidate to run the IMF should be the most qualified, regardless of his
birthplace.
To that end, Bergsten added, the selection process should not be secret but
open and transparent.
Once an IMF chief is chosen, his appointment is subject to approval by the
IMF board of directors, in which the United States has 17.68 percent of the
votes, the EU 30.13 percent, and Japan 6.33 percent.