The EU has narrowed its field of candidates to replace Christine Lagarde at the IMF to three names as European negotiators rush to secure a consensus on who should be the next managing director.
On Friday, the French finance ministry, which is leading negotiations on behalf of the EU, shortlisted five European names for the job but failed to reach a consensus on any candidate.
Of the five, Mário Centeno, Portugal’s current eurogroup chair, and Nadia Calviño, Spain’s finance minister, have been ruled out, according to two senior officials briefed by French negotiators. That left Jeroen Dijsselbloem, former Dutch finance minister, Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgarian chief executive of the World Bank, and Olli Rehn, Finland’s central bank chief, still in the race.