European Union finance ministers chose Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn today as their candidate to run the International Monetary Fund but agreed that Europe's monopoly on the job should end after him.
The backing for the former Socialist finance minister was a victory for new French President Nicolas Sarkozy and was a blow for Britain, which argued the top IMF job should be open to non-European candidates already.
The ministers agreed that the job, which has gone to a European ever since the IMF was set up in 1945, should be open to all once Mr Strauss-Kahn's term ends.
"We are aware that a tradition that dates back to the 40s in a world that has changed, needs to change," Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said.
There is no rule that the head of the IMF must be from Europe, but in practice the role has always gone to a European while the United States nominated the head of the World Bank.
"It was too late this time because the Americans have already nominated their candidate to the World Bank," an EU source said, about a change in the arrangement now.
The United States indicated last week it would not challenge Europe's grip on the IMF captaincy since it had just picked American Robert Zoellick for the top World Bank job.
Mr Strauss-Kahn (58) is a respected advocate of social democratic economics. He was credited with engineering France's economic recovery in the late 1990s and helped cut the country's budget deficit to ensure France joined the euro zone.