Macron's Georgieva Coup.

• Author: Engelen, K.

The narrative of "Macron the Kingmaker"--how the French president dominated the selection for the EU top job-ended August 2, 2019, with what some called a "grand French finale."

That's when the Germany-backed former Dutch finance minister and Eurogroup chairman, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, tweeted that he would give up his candidacy for managing director of the International Monetary Fund to succeed Christine Lagarde. He congratulated his rival for the position, World Bank Group Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva.

"In the Grip of the French? Outrage at election of IMF chief asked Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a few days later, referring to the Dutch daily de Volkskrant that questioned the role of French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire as "honest mediator" in the turbulent search for the next European candidate for the IMF position. "It appears that France tried to sow distrust and dissension between North and South in order to further the chances of the East European Georgieva," criticized de Volkskrant.

For Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, there are two motives for the French campaign for Georgieva. First, after Macron was able to get his four candidates for key European jobs accepted by the European Council without including an Eastern European, he was under pressure to nominate someone from Eastern Europe to succeed Lagarde at the IMF. Second, since Dijsselbloem as head of the Eurogroup had negotiated austerity measures for Greece and other euro crisis countries, the French could easily use some painful bank rescue experiences of the South against the former Dutch finance minister.

In the Netherlands, the Macron-dominated selection process for Europe's top jobs caused anger and outrage. The Dutch feel that both of their highly-qualified candidates-Frans...