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Lagarde chosen to lead IMF; first woman in top job

June 29, 2011 - 16:12 By 이우영

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde poses before giving a television interview, Tuesday June 28, 2011 in Paris, after she has been chosen to lead the International Monetary Fund. She will become the first female managing director of the global lending organization.(AP-Yonhap News)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was chosen Tuesday to lead the International Monetary Organization and will immediately confront a European debt crisis that threatens the global economy.

Lagarde will be the first female managing director of the 66-year-old global lending organization and the 11th European. Next week, she will begin a five-year term.

Among her challenges, she will have to prod fellow Europeans to take painful steps to prevent a default by Greece. She'll face pressure from developing nations that want a greater voice at the IMF. And she'll be looked upon to restore the IMF's reputation, which was tarred by a scandal involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the man she's replacing.

Strauss-Kahn resigned last month after being charged with sexually assaulting a New York City hotel housekeeper. He has denied the charges.

``I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me,'' Lagarde said in a statement in Paris after the vote Tuesday. ``I would like to thank the fund's global membership warmly for the broad-based support I have received.''

Lagarde was chosen by consensus, the IMF said in a statement.

Her selection became all but assured once the Obama administration endorsed her earlier Tuesday. Hours later, the IMF's 24-member board voted to appoint her. She had also won support from Europe, China and Russia. Mexico's Agustin Carstens challenged her, but his candidacy never caught fire.

In an interview on French television after the announcement, Largarde said her first priority is to unify the IMF's staff of 2,500 employees and 800 economists and restore their confidence in the organization.

She also said she wants to meet with Strauss-Kahn, if permitted to by the U.S. government.

``I want to have a long talk with him, because a successor should talk with their predecessor,'' Lagarde said during the interview on French television channel TF1. ``I can learn things from what he has to say about the IMF and its teams.''

Lagarde, 55, will be the first IMF leader who is not an economist. She led the Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie before entering French politics in 2005. She has spent much of her career in the United States and speaks impeccable English.

As one of the longest-serving ministers under French President Nicolas Sarkozy, she made the country's labor market rules more flexible. Forbes has listed her among the world's most powerful women.

Most urgently, she will be expected to help stabilize Europe's debt crisis.

``This will put her in the position to work more closely with her European counterparts and push them if needed,'' said Domenico Lombardi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former member of the IMF's executive board.

Under an informal arrangement dating to the end of World War II, a European has always lead the IMF and an American has run its sister organization, the World Bank.

Lagarde helped lead negotiations for a bailout package last year that combined European Union and IMF funds in a pool to aid highly indebted European countries. But some experts argue that Europe's leaders have been too timid in responding to the crisis and have been discredited by their failure to solve it for good.

She moved to address that criticism last week when she met with IMF's executive board. She told them there was ``no room for benevolence when tough choices must be made, and there is no option that does not start with difficult but necessary adjustments by the Greek authorities.''

A default by Greece would reverberate well beyond Europe. Such dangers are why even some developing countries, such as China, supported her Lagarde's candidacy, Lombardi said. China owns billions of dollars in euro-dominated bonds and has little interest in seeing the European debt crisis worsen.

She also will be expected to boost morale among the staff in the wake of the scandal. Before being criminally charged last month, Strauss-Kahn was reprimanded in 2008 for having a brief affair with a subordinate, though he faced no disciplinary action.

Lagarde's support for gender equality in the workplace might help her put her stamp on the organization, said Susan Schadler, a former IMF deputy director who now serves as a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

``The IMF's culture is no different than any institution in the financial sector: It's dominated by men,'' Schadler said. ``But I would imagine she would be a good influence and improve the environment for the better.''

Lagarde spoke to that issue in her interview on French television Tuesday.

``In my interview at the IMF with all the 24 administrators, there was not one single woman,'' she said. ``So while I was being questioned for three hours by 24 men, I thought it's good that things are changing a little.''

Analysts say the IMF's culture is evolving, however gradually. Her appointment puts two women in prominent leadership roles at the organization. In April, Nemat Shafik, an Egyptian economist and former World Bank official, was appointed a top deputy at the fund.

Shafik said last month that the IMF is boosting its efforts to recruit women. The fund wants 25 percent to 30 percent of its management positions to be held by women by 2014, Shafik said.

Other analysts noted that as a European and as a woman, Lagarde is both a conventional and a bold choice to lead the IMF. Like her predecessor, she represents the French elite. But as the first woman to lead the organization, she represents a break with history.

``She's the old guard and the new guard,'' said David Bosco, an assistant professor of international politics at American University.

<한글 기사>

라가르드, IMF 첫 여성 총재로 선출

非경제학자로 첫 IMF 총재, 서유럽 독식체제 온존

1947년 국제통화기금(IMF) 출범 이후 처음으 로 여성 총재가 탄생했다.

IMF는 28일 워싱턴D.C. 본부에서 집행이사회를 열고 새 총재로 프랑스의 크리스틴 라가르드(55) 재무장관을 선출했다.

라가르드 신임 총재는 성추문으로 지난달 사임한 도미니크 스트로스-칸 전 총재 의 뒤를 이어 다음달 5일부터 임기 5년의 총재로 활동한다.

IMF는 성명을 통해 라가르드 후보가 집행이사국들의 만장일치로 총재로 선출됐다고 밝혔다.

라가르드 신임 총재는 "회원국들의 광범위한 지지에 감사하며 집행이사회가 보여준 신뢰를 영광스럽게 생각한다"고 밝히고 "모든 회원국들이 한 마음 한 뜻으로 IMF를 이끌어나갈 수 있도록 하는데 최선의 목표를 두겠다"고 포부를 밝혔다.

이날 집행이사회 개최를 앞두고 IMF 회원국 가운데 최대지분 보유국인 미국이 라가르드에 대한 지지를 공식 선언함에 따라 라가르드의 IMF 총재 선출은 사실상 확정됐다.

이미 유럽국가들의 일치된 지지를 등에 업은 라가르드는 중국과 러시아, 한국 등의 지지까지 확보했다.

미국이 17%, 유럽지역이 40%의 IMF 의결권 지분을 보유하고 있어 라가르드는 미 국이 지지를 선언한 순간 이미 과반수 득표에 성공한 셈이다.

라가르드에 맞서 총재직에 도전한 멕시코의 아구스틴 카르스텐스 중앙은행 총재 는 막판에 일부 개도국과 호주, 캐나다의 지지를 이끌어냈지만 라가르드의 독주를 막기에는 역부족이었다.

라가르드 신임 총재는 IMF의 최초의 여성 총재인 동시에 경제학자가 아닌 법률가로는 처음으로 IMF 총재직에 오르는 기록을 세웠다.

그러나 세계은행 총재직을 미국이 맡고 IMF 총재는 서유럽 출신 인사가 맡는 미-유럽의 `나눠먹기' 구도가 계속 유지됐다는 점에서 개도국의 반발도 만만찮은 편이다.

라가르드 신임 총재는 당장 그리스의 채무불이행 위기 수습이라는 발등의 불을 꺼야 하고 신흥개도국들의 발언권 확대 요구를 무리없이 처리해 나가야 하는 과제를 안고 있다.

또한 같은 프랑스 출신인 스트로스-칸 전 총재가 성추문으로 불명예 퇴진하면서 실추된 IMF의 명예를 회복시키는 것도 그에게 주어진 짐이다.

(연합뉴스)