Europeans have agreed on a list of five candidates to replace Christine Lagarde as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hope to whittle it down to one by the end of July.
The names include former Dutch finance minister and Euro group head, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Their names had already been circulating as potential successor, as well as former EU commissioner, Olli Rehn of Finland, according to the French Economy Ministry.
Other names include, Spanish Economy Minister, Nadia Calvino, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who is currently head of the Eurogroup, and also the former EU commission vice president, Kristalina Georgieva from Bulgaria.
French Economy Minister, Bruno le Maire has been coordinating the European search with the goal of agreeing on a single candidate with wide ranging experience in international finance by the end of July.
Le Maire has been in touch with European finance ministers including the incoming British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid.
Maire called on finance ministers to name their favoured candidate in a second round of consultations this week.
The Washington-based IMF is traditionally led by a European while its sister institution the World Bank is led by an American, but emerging countries have challenged this unwritten rule.
“The IMF must end its practice of appointing only European managing directors, just as the World Bank must start considering non-US citizens,” Jose Antonio Ocampo, a Colombian central bank board member and former finance minister, wrote earlier this month.
Lagarde was nominated to succeed Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank and will leave the IMF on Sept. 12.
