Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, has been elected to head the International Monetary Fund.
Madame Lagarde has been the rock solid center of the Sarkozy French government since its beginning. She is a lawyer who managed one of the world's largest law firms in the United States and then took on the French financial mess when asked by newly elected Nicolas Sarkozy. She has made French finances more robust than they were in the thirty years before her tenure.
She was also in her youth a world class title-winning swimmer.
What her agenda will be at the IMF is still not clear, but if her record is any indication, she will run a tight ship with clear rules and obligations.
She has also suggested that she would like to bring into the IMF more senior management from the developing world. If this occurs, it will be the turning of the ship - slowly but inevitably.
I have personally enjoyed watching her win over the rather macho European presidents, prime ministers and finance ministers, as well as international bankers. She has done it because of her talent, skills, hard work and pleasant manners.
Let's wish her well at the IMF because, goodness knows, she's got another large mess on her hands. It's called the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair.
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