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5/20/11

EU leaders set to nominate Lagarde for IMF post - by RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC and ARTHUR BEESLEY

French Finance Minister minister Christine Lagarde has emerged as the clear favourite to take the helm of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with European leaders expected to agree on her nomination in the coming days.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is understood to be pressing for Ms Lagarde to succeed her compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn after he resigned this week to fight charges of sexual assault and attempted rape in New York. Mr Sarkozy spoke to British prime minister David Cameron yesterday and with German chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this week.

European leaders are resisting pressure to give the job to an emerging economic power and the expectation in European circles is that they will coalesce around a single candidate before a G8 summit in Deauville, France, on Thursday and Friday. Ms Lagarde received a public endorsement yesterday from Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, while the president of the euro group, Jean-Claude Juncker, who played a vital role in Mr Strauss-Kahn’s nomination in 2007, said she would be the “ideal candidate”.

For more: EU leaders set to nominate Lagarde for IMF post - The Irish Times - Sat, May 21, 2011

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