EU settles on World Bank’s Georgieva to lead IMF

World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva

BRUSSELS  – European Union governments picked Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva as the bloc’s candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund after more than 12 hours of talks on Friday that highlighted the EU’s internal divisions.

The 65-year-old chief executive of the World Bank got the backing of a majority of the 28 EU states, defeating the Dutch candidate Jeroen Dijsselbloem after two rounds of voting and prolonged negotiations among EU nations.

“Congratulations Georgieva for being selected as European candidate to lead the IMF. In the face on rising global tensions, it is imperative to uphold the IMF as symbol of multilateralism,” said the chair of euro zone finance ministers, Mario Centeno.

Georgieva is a center-right politician who grew up in Bulgaria under communism before a career that brought her to the top of the World Bank and the European Commission.

Most EU states backed Georgieva even though her candidacy will force a change in IMF rules that require the managing director to be younger than 65 years old when appointed. The need for that change could weaken the European candidate if a sufficiently large number of IMF member states opposed the reform.

However, a European official said support from EU countries and the United States would be enough to overhaul the rules in the global fund that has historically been dominated by the Western bloc. According to an IMF fact sheet, a bylaw change to remove or modify the age limit would require approval by a majority of board votes cast.

The source added that France, which is leading the European selection process, had already secured Washington’s support on this change.

A U.S. Treasury spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on Georgieva’s nomination, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke highly of her work in a Reuters interview last month.

reuters.com

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