IMF chief/French politics: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, cannot be taken seriously when he talks about France. Not because he's French, but because he is the most talked-about potential candidate for the presidential elections in 2012, and has consistently declined to state his intentions. The ambiguity is becoming unhealthy. "DSK", as he's known in France, must say whether he plans to run.
In one of his carefully-planned French media appearances this week, Strauss-Kahn opined that France or Germany shouldn't cut their budget deficits too quickly. But which Strauss-Kahn was talking? Was it the IMF's managing director, or the candidate eyeing the socialist party nomination that would enable him to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy?
Talking about French pension reforms, Strauss-Kahn said that lifting the retirement age beyond 60 "shouldn't be a taboo". The IMF chief should simply have stated that the French can't afford their current system, and must work longer. But the presidential candidate, whose generally centrist positions don't make him a favourite of the left of the socialist party, cannot afford to be so blunt.
So far, Strauss-Kahn only wants everyone to know that he's thinking hard about the presidency. True, this is a tough decision to make. Should he leave a prestigious international job to jump into the fray of French politics, when he is far from certain to get the socialist nomination? Even if chosen, he cannot be sure of beating Sarkozy. There's more. Strauss-Kahn, who was a French finance minister in the late 1990s, belongs to the long string of Treasury officials who did next to nothing to curb budget deficits and cut down debt. Given Europe's sovereign debt crisis, this could come back to haunt him.
If Strauss-Kahn keeps equivocating, the IMF will lose all credibility in its dealings and pronouncements about France. This is something it cannot afford at a time when Europe, and the way euro zone governments are managing their economies, is one of the Fund's central concerns. DSK may feel it's way too soon to make a decision. That's too bad. The IMF needs a full-time, fully-focused and authoritative director, not a French politician looking for an angle.
