Europe has suffered a defeat. This is how we should perhaps assess the results of the first round of elections of a new International Monetary Fund director.
The single Western European candidate for this office, Caio Koch-Weser, not only failed but even withdrew his candidacy. “I experienced great humiliation,” Mr. Koch-Weser admitted. He did not go into details, which was probably unnecessary. This says it all.
The point is not even in the fact that other candidates, including the American, IMF acting director Stanley Fischer, gained even fewer votes.
The point is that the single West European candidate was too weak politically. His candidacy was practically unknown to most if not all, and in such cases a dark horse has slim chances, with due account for large amounts of money handled by the IMF, great responsibility and the ability to stand up to the scathing criticism leveled by US Congressmen.
The next candidate, also nominated by Germany, was representative of the opposition Christian Democratic Union Horst K Ъ hler, but he does not even enjoy the united support of the European Union member states. While at first France said neither oui nor non until the last moment, now several countries say almost officially that the new candidacy might be “stronger,” although the US does not seem to object to it this time.
What is clear is the reason why a really strong candidate, the current European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg, is not in the running: there is nobody to replace him, especially at a time when the euro still trails the dollar instead of showing its promised rise.
Of course, all this may only look funny from the outside. The European Union is living through far from its best days. For the EU cannot yet prove to the world that it is really something bigger than a commercial and economic alliance and is capable of making decisions, especially in changing times. And there is no doubt that the IMF will have to change absolutely all aspects of its activity. This is demanded by the US, the largest shareholder, and it cannot be ignored. It is not ruled out that the IMF will wind up giving grants to only the poorest nations, while the real money will be dealt with by the World Bank. And, from the standpoint of common sense, why not?
But Europe has not just lost a new global battle. It now becoming evident that the last word will in any case remain with Washington for a long time to come — both in military-strategic games, as is the case of Kosovo, and in large-scale international finances. Humiliating as it is, the defeat is very instructive: to return to the big world stage, one must have not only the desire but also something else. And Western Europe lacks this because much of it was in fact under Washington’s protectorate after the war. And this should also be taken into account by both those who are already counting the days toward EU admission and those who are not yet facing this challenge, such as Ukraine, for example. But it is not at all necessary to fall into such dependence.
