By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 3 -- For the second time during France's presidency of the Group of 20, a French minister has come to the UN and held a closed door briefing, excluding the press, about how open the Sarkozy administration's leadership of the G-20 is.
But when Labor and Health Minister Xavier Bertrand came on June 3, something had changed. Dominique Strauss Kahn had lost the top post at the International Monetary Fund after being charged with sexual assault on a maid at Sofitel in New York, and fellow French minster Christine Lagarde is globetrotting to procure a vote this month to replace DSK.
Inner City Press asked Bertrand, flanked by French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud and his spokesman, about a complaint by South Africa's minister of finance Pravin Gardhan that the fast moves for Lagarde breach some commitment by the G-20 for a more open process.
As Bertrand rolled his eyes even before the question was finished, Inner City Press asked if there might be a conflict of interest in France leading the G-20 while pushing for Lagarde to replace DSK. Might a G-20 with a developing world president speak and act differently during this period?
After saying he hadn't come to speak about the question of the IMF, Bertrand emphasized that Lagarde has support “beyond France, even beyond Europe.” He said that while “certain [people] take into account nationality,” Lagarde's experience goes beyond that.
He claimed that France's leadership of the G-20 is “collective,” and is “not incompatible,” with pushing Lagarde.
Inner City Press did not mentioned DSK, having noted that Bertrand has even come to the defense of fellow French official Georges Tron, also charged with sex abuse. Innocent until proven guilty, Bertrand has said -- without referring to the upcoming June 10 court decision on Lagarde's role in the payment of a large governmental settlement to Sarkozy ally Bernard Tapie. Watch this site.
Footnotes: while some in France ascribe Agustin Carstens counter candidacy to l'affaire Cassez between Mexico, others tell Inner City Press that if Lagarde's candidacy survives the June 10 court decision, and if she replaced DSK, it would not be for a full term, and a stronger commitment would be made that her successor would not be European. We'll see.
At Bertrand's closed door G-20 pitch, Singapore's Permanent Representative Vanu Gopala Menon on behalf of the Global Governance Group (3G) urged France to “allow greater involvement of non G-20 countries in work groups” of the G-20. Inner City Press asked Bertrand about this as well; he responded that Singapore is invited, France's G-20 is not a club. Watch this site.
