Schäuble backs Lagarde

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has told Germany's biggest newspaper that he would support a bid for the top job in the International Monetary Fund from his French counterpart, Christine Lagarde.

In an interview set to be published in Bild am Sonntag on Sunday, Schäuble describes Lagarde as "perfectly appropriate for the job," both in terms of her skills and personality.

"If Christine Lagarde decided to be candidate, Europe would have an excellent chance of occupying this position again," Schäuble said. "She is respected and valued throughout the world of finance."

Chancellor Angela Merkel, attending a party conference in Bavaria, also voiced her support for Lagarde on Saturday, but insisted that this praise did not mean that the French finance minister would necessarily apply for the post vacated by her disgraced countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"There is widespread support for Europe providing a candidate," Merkel said. "I have always said - without this being a confirmation of any candidacy - that the French finance minister is an outstanding and experienced individual."

Position vacant

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of trying to rape a hotel maid, stepped down as IMF managing director late on Wednesday, and Christine Lagarde has since become one of the names most frequently linked with the role. The 55-year politician is already the first female finance minister from a Group of Seven country, and she'd be the first woman to lead the IMF.

Social Democrat chairman and former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, however, is critical of the government's apparent support for a French candidate.

"It's remarkable that Angela Merkel evidently has not even thought about putting a German candidate into the ring," Steinmeier said in an interview with the Spiegel Online website on Saturday.

Schäuble and Merkel are both adamant, however, that a European should take over from Strauss-Kahn, and not only because of the IMF's close cooperation with EU countries at the moment, especially where the emergency loan packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal are concerned.

"At the end of the day, the United States and Europe pay by far the greatest proportion of the dues," Schäuble told Bild am Sonntag, referring to the funds that enable the IMF to operate.

Author: Mark Hallam (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Andreas Illmer