Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira Dos Santos announced that the European Union is warming up to the possibility of a non-European occupying the lead spot in the International Monetary Fund when the next manager concludes his term. “We are willing to discuss, after the mandate of the next managing director, who we expect to be a European, a different procedure that could deliver a different outcome,” said Dos Santos. Although the IMF has been led by Europeans since the its inception, a great number of developing countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the system and have sought better representation in the fund. British Finance Minister Alistair Darling echoed the sentiment, saying that it was high time that the IMF’s top spot was open to qualified individuals from other parts of the world. (Source: EU prepared to consider possibility of having non-European lead IMF in the future/Associated Press)
