Agence France Presse
LISBON, March 23 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder hailed Thursday the appointment of Germany's Horst Koehler as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), French sources said.
Koehler's appointment was "a success for European unity," a French official quoted Schroeder as saying at the EU summit on jobs, social policy and the new economy.
Chirac praised both Germany and the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, after the United States balked at the EU's first choice for the IMF job, Caio Koch-Weser, the official added.
Traditionally the post of IMF managing director goes to a European, with an American taking the top office at the World Bank -- a formula that EU leaders wanted to see continued.:
