Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde is a French statesman and managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2011. Prior to that, she was the Minister of Economy and Finance of France. In 2009, the renowned Financial Times magazine named her the most successful finance minister in the eurozone. Recognizing her high professionalism and political authority, Forbes magazine named her fifth in the list of the most influential women in the world in 2014.
Biography. A family
Christine Lalouette was born on January 1, 1956 in Paris into a family of hereditary aristocrats. His father was a professor of English, and his mother was a teacher of French literature and Latin. In addition to Christine, the family had three younger sons. The father adhered to strict rules in raising children, from childhood they were focused on success and achieving concrete results. At first, the girl was aimed at a sports career, because she was successfully engaged in synchronized swimming and even played for the French national team. At the age of seventeen, after the death of her father, Christine was awarded a scholarship to study at the Holton Arms School in the United States. In America, Lagarde worked in the Capitol, helping Congresswoman Cohen communicate with French-speaking voters during the difficult period of the Watergate scandal. From that moment, her political career began. Returning to her homeland, she entered the University of Western Paris at the Faculty of Law. In 1981 she received her master's degree from the Institute for Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence, She later became a member of the board of directors of this institution.
Professional growth
With a law degree, Lagarde got a job at the Paris branch of the American law firm Baker & McKenzie. Through hard work and dedication, Christine became a partner of the firm and the head of Western Europe in five years. The birth of sons in 1986 and 1988 did not stop her from making an excellent career. In 1999, she became the first woman to head this renowned legal organization. Under her leadership, Baker & McKenzie's annual turnover has exceeded $ 1 billion.
From 1995 to 2002, Lagarde combined her main activity with work at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, where her colleague was Zbigniew Brzezinski. In 2000, in her homeland, she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
Government posts in France
In 2005, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin persuaded Christine Lagarde to return home from America and get involved in politics. In the same year she was offered the post of Minister of Foreign Trade of France. In 2007, she took the position of Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and a year later she headed the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry. In 2008, she took over the leadership of the Council of Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union, ECOFIN (ECOFIN). In 2009, Lagarde received the title of the best finance minister of the European Union according to the publication of the Financial Times.
At first, the French colleagues could not get used to Christine's American directness and tactlessness. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then the head of the IMF, called her an incompetent person. Many journalists have compared the strict minister to Marie-Antoinette. But the perseverance and experience of a talented woman took their toll. After the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn from the post of the IMF, she announced her desire to lead the International Monetary Fund. Lagarde's intention was supported by all the major economic powers. For Nicolas Sarkozy, then President, she personified the victory of France. Despite all the allegations of criminal negligence against the businessman Tali, Christine firmly held her post. And in 2016, the Board of Directors re-elects her for another 5 years to the same position.
What is the IMF
It is a UN social agency that regulates currency relations between states. Currently, there are 188 of them. The IMF provides loans to insolvent countries. The IMF's reserve currencies are the dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling. Since 2016, Chinese yuan has been added to this list. The IMF is headquartered in the United States.
Personal life
In the early 1980s, Christine Lalouette married Wilfried Lagarde. The family union soon fell apart. From this marriage she has two sons - Thomas and Pierre-Henri. The eldest son is engaged in architecture, the younger is in programming. The second time she married the businessman Ichran Pilmur, with whom she also did not live long. She currently has a civil relationship with an entrepreneur from Marseille, Xavier Giacanti. Lagarde is a fan of a healthy lifestyle, a vegetarian, and neglects alcohol. Her sports preferences: swimming, cycling, exercising on simulators. He enjoys spending time in the garden looking after flowers.
Lagarde's views
She is a supporter of budget cuts and a decrease in the amount of external debts. Upon taking office, Lagarde criticized the IMF's loan program, calling it inconsistent. Supporter of tough measures. Suffice it to recall 2012, when the IMF refused additional assistance to Greece. However, in 2015, Christine Lagarde personally helped write off Greece's external debt. He characterizes his views briefly: “I agree with Adam Smith, therefore, liberal.” But in times of crisis, he allows state intervention.
