European leaders said they will do what they can to make sure British Prime Minister David Cameron can support his country’s continued future in the European Union in a referendum expected this year.
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“Ms. Lagarde was a prudent and effective crisis manager in the hard times after the financial crisis”, the statement read from Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble’s office read. It is doubtful if Nigerians are aware that the International Monetary Fund boss in under investigation in her country, France over her handling of a €405 million (£322m) state payout made to Bernard Tapie, a disgraced tycoon, in 2008 when she was France’s finance minister.
“I’ll be waiting before I say anything about that”, she said. “The Board intends to complete the selection process by early March”, Mozhin added.
Ms Lagarde has repeatedly pleaded her innocence in the case. The savvy Frenchwoman, however, held back from confirming she wants the job.
Ms Lagarde over the past five years has sought to pull emerging markets closer to the IMF’s fold, seeing their enfranchisement at the institution as critical to ensuring the fund’s influence on their policies. She also used her bully pulpit at the world’s top economic adviser to push Europe into recapitalizing its banking sector.
“Lagarde is an incredible professional and a true champion of financial issues”, he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Ms Lagarde has also taken pains to champion the interests of its larger emerging-market members.
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Osborne had previously nominated Lagarde for her first term in 2011. Lagarde has said she would fight the trial order, and the International Monetary Fund executive board at the time reiterated its confidence in her. On Wednesday the French press reported that Paris could support Ivory Coast-born French banker Tidjane Thiam as a replacement if she were not to run.
