Lagarde gets strong backing from Europe to stay at IMF

Christine Lagarde garnered strong backing from Europe Thursday for a second mandate as IMF managing director.

With her term coming to an end in July, the International Monetary Fund formally began accepting nominations for who will guide the global crisis lender for the next five years.

Lagarde, who has led the IMF through one of its most difficult challenges, the rescue of the eurozone from meltdown, has only said that she is open to another term.

But she drew immediate endorsements from Germany, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, while the United States praised her performance in the role without giving its formal backing.

British finance minister George Osborne on Thursday tweeted that he was "delighted to nominate @Lagarde for new term as head of IMF".

He described her as "an outstanding leader with vision and acumen to steer global economy in years ahead".

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also backed Lagarde's candidacy.

She had proven to be a "far-sighted and successful crisis manager in difficult times," the German finance ministry in Berlin said in a statement.

The Netherlands's finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, tweeted that his country "fully supports her candidacy," while France, where Lagarde was minister of finance before taking the IMF job, also endorsed her.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNBC television from Davos, Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew refrained from a formal endorsement, without having seen any other nominations.

But he expressed strong approval of her performance.

"I have a very close working relationship with her, (and) the highest regard for her," Lew said. "I think she has done a great job, you know. I look forward to continuing to work with her."

On the first day that nominations for the powerful position were open, there were no other names being mentioned as candidates. But the Fund will be taking nominations through February 10. After a review of the candidates, the IMF executive board aims to have decided on a candidate by March 3.

Lagarde, 60, easily won a contest with several developing country candidates to take over the IMF in 2011 as Europe was sinking deep into economic crisis.

But her win came amid criticisms that the IMF's top job should not be locked down by a European, as it has since the institution was created in 1944.

- Facing trial in France -

Guiding the Fund through the successful rescues of Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus, and the still-troubled bailouts of Greece and Ukraine, Lagarde has garnered deep respect in the global financial community.

But she has not said directly that she wants to renew her position. She said several times in the past year that she is open to it, and reiterated that stance Thursday in comments to CNN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Asked if she is running for a second term, she said the 188 IMF member states had supported her in the current term.

"There will be more to say, what they want and whether they want me to carry on," she said.

Lagarde's renewal nevertheless faces a personal legal challenge: She could stand trial in France over her role in a banking scandal that predates her arrival at the IMF.

In December investigating judges placed her under formal investigation in the long-running affair of Bernard Tapie, who received a substantial state payout for his dispute with a state bank during her time as finance minister.

Lagarde has said she would fight the trial order, and the IMF executive board at the time reiterated its confidence in her.

On Wednesday the French press reported that Paris could support Ivory Coast-born French banker Tidjane Thiam as a replacement if she were not to run.

But Thiam told US TV channel CNBC that he would not speculate on taking the job and that he was focused on his position as chief executive at Credit Suisse.

He told CNBC that Lagarde had done "a phenomenal job" at the IMF.