He thinks about it, and not just while shaving. Reappointed to his post as Minister of the Economy in May, the day after the presidential election, Bruno Le Maire is nonetheless preparing for the future. The succession of the Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva at the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), scheduled for 2024, if she is not a candidate for a second term, is a prospect that the boss of Bercy is studying with the greatest attention. .
The former Secretary of State for European Affairs (2008-2009), who was adviser to Dominique de Villepin for foreign affairs, has never hidden his taste for the international scene and would see himself in Washington, a city that he has been enjoying it for a long time, in the wake of the last two French people to have held the position, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (2007-2011) and Christine Lagarde (2011-2019).
In this case, Bruno Le Maire takes care to spare his support. During his last trips to the United States as Minister of the Economy, he notably took the time to see the former Secretary of the Treasury under Donald Trump, Steven Mnuchin, today at the head of a investment fund, but still based in Washington, and of which it is “stay close”according to those around him.
Likely other candidates
His longevity at Bercy (five years), just like his functions under Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term – he remained a minister for four years, or 548 councils of ministers on the clock, as he likes to remind his friends – make him a veteran on the European scene, where he is respected. Admittedly, he is not formally an economist, a reproach already addressed to Christine Lagarde, now president of the European Central Bank. And it is likely that other candidates will declare themselves by then.
The statutes limiting the age of the managing director of the IMF to 65 were abolished in 2019, on the occasion of the appointment of Kristalina Georgieva, then aged 66. Which can, in theory, open the game. The custom is that the presidency of the international organization is reserved for a European, that of the World Bank being entrusted to an American. It remains to be seen whether the emerging countries, which have been asking for years to be better represented, will once again be satisfied with this implicit distribution of powers.
If a consensus emerges in favor of a Western European to replace the Bulgarian president, the candidacy of Bruno Le Maire could prevail. And if President Emmanuel Macron, whom he informed of his ambitions, supported him. A step aside, far from the French, which would not compromise his ambitions for the presidential election of 2027, allowing the former deputy of Eure to take a step back with Macronie without breaking with it.
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