Top jobs challenge to Cowen

THE recent surprise resignation of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo de Rato, presents an important opportunity for Finance Minister Brian Cowen publicly to clarify the position of the Irish Government on the need for fundamental reform of the governance of the IMF and World Bank.

The current leadership selection process at the IMF and World Bank consists of an archaic, backroom dealbetween European governments and the US administration.

This arrangement is indefensible as it ensures political control by the most powerful members of two institutions that impact enormously on the lives of people in impoverished countries.