Global Reaction

Germany says European should be next IMF chief

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-18 21:38

BERLIN - Germany says a European should take the top job at the International Monetary Fund if the position opens up soon, given that the eurozone debt crisis is the fund's central issue.

Government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said Wednesday that the presumption of innocence applies to current IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the question of a successor "does not yet arise."

He says Europe has "an abundance of highly qualified candidates."

Steegmans didn't name any potential candidates or say whether Germany itself might propose one. But he said it "makes a lot of sense" to have an IMF chief who is "very familiar" with "Europe's particularities, the currency questions and also the political circumstances here."