There are a couple of enlightening articles on the emergence of one Dominique Strauss-Kahn as French President Nicholas Sarkozy's choice as next IMF chief. He has just been endorsed by the Ecofin as well. As you will be unsurprised to note, this choice may have something to do with Sarkozy's political machinations. In choosing someone from the opposing Socialist party, it is said that Sarkozy is trying to remove Strauss-Kahn from contending for the leadership of that party. TIME plays up the rather Machiavellian notion of divide-and-conquer against the French left:Notorious for most of his career as a ferociously partisan conservative, French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears to have changed gear since his election in May. First, he named longtime Socialist Bernard Kouchner as his foreign minister, and included a handful of other leftists in his cabinet — a move denounced by the Socialists as taking advantage of personal ambition to divide and conquer the left. (Kouchner was expelled from the party.) Now, detractors charge, Sarkozy is seeking to sway the outcome of the Socialist Party's internal power struggle by off-shoring one of its main contenders, former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Sarkozy has nominated Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund, making him the fast-track favorite to fill a position traditionally chosen by the Europeans.What's more, Strauss-Kahn seems to be more in favor of a corporatist approach to governance that may suit Sarkozy's tacit support of national champions and the like. However, Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer lets on that he would have liked more choice in the matter even if it meant opening the post up to contention from non-Europeans. Like during the EU Reform Treaty episode, it seems that Britain has let Sarkozy put one over it. Message to Brown: Be more involved in European affairs if you don't want to be beaten to the punch at every turn by super-speedy Sarkozy:Less than 24 hours after Sarkozy made an unprecedented presidential appearance at a meeting of European Union economy and finance ministers in Brussels on Monday, that forum declared its support for Strauss-Kahn to replace current IMF director general, Spaniard Rodrigo Rato, who steps down in October. That would appear to make Strauss-Kahn a lock for the job, although not if developing nations — emboldened by recent grumblings from Britain — propose a strong alternative candidate. In going to bat for the former Socialist Finance Minister who oversaw France's last big economic and employment boom in the late 1990s, however, Sarkozy gives little sign he's ready to foreswear the European grip on the position for the sake of greater international diversity...
Still, detractors see the appointment as designed to increase discord among the Socialists. Many in the party had seen DSK, beaten in the party's primary, as the rival best-placed to defeat the vanquished presidential candidate, Segolene Royal, in her push to take over the party's leadership.
"Sarkozy's biggest worry in the year before the election was that Strauss-Kahn would win the [Socialist] primary, and campaign on the kinds of policies and vision for France that Sego could never come up with," says a Socialist party member who opposes what he calls a "depressingly feasible" Royal leadership if DSK moves to Washington to lead the IMF. "No one disagrees that Strauss-Kahn is right for job, but you'd have to be blind not to see that his exit from the domestic scene is in Sarko's political interests. More Sego and less DSK means better chances for a Sarkozy re-election in 2012."
The British Government was comprehensively outmanoeuvred today when President Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded in placing Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French Socialist Finance Minister, in pole position to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund.
The decision, taken during a lengthy informal and frugal breakfast in Brussels, was an early setback to Alistair Darling, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, attending his first EU finance ministers’ meeting.
He had argued in vain against a snap selection process, insisting that the time had come for a radical reform of the lengthy tradition whereby Europe is guaranteed the top job at the IMF, and America at the World Bank.
“The British government does not believe this situation is sustainable in the long-term. We need a more open and transparent system. There needs to be an opportunity for all members of the IMF to assess individual candidates and to pick the best one for the job,” he said.
But the Chancellor’s attempt to open up the contest was swept aside. Shortly before lunch, Fernando Teixera Dos Santos, the Portuguese Finance Minister chairing the meeting, announced “a political understanding” had been reached on the French candidate.
Developing countries are understandably displeased at being shut out of the selection process yet again, first in the selection of the next World Bank chief which went again to an American by tradition and now in the selection of next IMF head by tradition. Old habits die hard. Indeed, it now seems that France is extending its relative hegemony over key economic governance positions, according to Reuters, which also notes Strauss-Kahn's corporatist leanings:
He received backing from the chairman of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over monthly meetings of euro zone finance ministers and the European Central Bank, as well as from Germany and the Netherlands.
France already holds three key international economic posts, with Pascal Lamy at the World Trade Organisation, Jean-Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank and Jean Lemierre at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. [Make that four if Strauss-Kahn if nothing goes awry.]
Out of the nine IMF managing directors so far, three have been French and one was German. There was also one Spaniard, one Dutchman, one Belgian and two Swedes.
