WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers stressed that Washington did not oppose a European at the head of the IMF on Tuesday, but urged Europe to come up with the right person for the top-flight job.
"The existing traditions with respect to selection have served us very well," Summers said, referring to the tradition that the IMF is headed by a European and repeating his line that the IMF needed a strong candidate with global support. "It would be our hope that a European candidate who met the criteria I described would emerge."
The White House, triggering a bitter diplomatic dispute, said on Monday that Washington would not back Caio Koch-Weser, who is Europe's candidate to head the IMF.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Washington had not backed any of the three men in the running, and Summers denied German charges that Washington had pushed developing countries to nominate Stanley Fischer, a naturalized American who is currently the IMF's acting managing director.
"We have not sought to influence the position of others," Summers told reporters after testifying on the IMF to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Others have made their own judgments based on their own information and on their own impressions of the needs of the organization."
He added: "I think it is very important that this is not a choice that is made on any one continent, but that this is a choice of an individual who is outstanding and who can command respect and support...on all continents.":
