German minister wants European IMF boss

Germany and France want another European to be named head of the International Monetary Fund to replace Horst Koehler, according to German finance minister Hans Eiche.

"We are agreed that it should once again be a European," he said at a news conference on a visit to French finance minister Francis Mer.

By tradition the head of the IMF is a European while the top job at the World Bank, the IMF's sister institution, goes to an American.

However, the United States can use its voting power to block any candidate deemed unsuitable by the White House.

Mr Köhler's succession in 2000 came after months of negotiations between America and Europe.

Speculation is rife among European finance ministries as to who will succeed Horst Koehler, who is stepping down to stand as a candidate for the German presidency.

IMF directors representing Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, Switzerland and Russia have proposed ending the European monopoly on the job by demanding that the new candidate should be chosen "irrespective of nationality".

Earlier this month, when Koehle resigned, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's name was mentioned, amongst others, as a possible contender for the top job.