[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
With the former head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, firmly ensconced in his less-than-luxury surroundings at Rikers Island Prison, the greyhounds are out of the gate and rushing to be the next boss. It’s no surprise, then, that European nations want a European in the seat and the Americans, of course, want the ‘right’ European – which has been the case for decades. The yanks, after all, have the World Bank and want to keep control of it.
But now the argument is being put forth that the shareholders (including America with 16%) will vote on who should succeed DSK. Europe wants to vote as a collective, thus trouncing the US with 29%, but it is important that the US votes with the EU in order to show a cohesive political face. Germany’s Angela Merkel has made a plea the candidate needs to be European because of the current mess that the Eurozone is in, and America, as long as it can keep the World Bank leadership, doesn’t really care.
French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, has already been put forward as a strong candidate and it behooves Europe to act fast, as Asia has the same percentage of shareholders, technically, as Europe does divided. Nonetheless the overall feeling is that it will definitely go to a European, and after the debacle of DSK, Lagarde looks like a sober choice – she doesn’t seem remotely lecherous and that is at least a promising beginning, but it is essential to fill the power vacuum soon and try to re-establish the IMF as a credible global presence and that will continue to be a challenge, especially now.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
