EUROPEAN Union finance ministers backed former French Socialist finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday as their candidate to run the International Monetary Fund.

“The Ecofin (council of finance ministers) agrees to support Dominique Strauss-Kahn for IMF director,” the Portuguese presidency of the European Union said.

But the ministers also agreed that the job, which customarily goes to a European, should be open to all after Strauss-Kahn’s term ends, EU sources 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 since the inception of the organisation in 1945, 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,” said an EU source. “It’s a bit tit-for-tat, but there was agreement that we would open the job next time.”

Britain and the IMF board suggested on Monday that the post should be open to all candidates already, after the current managing director, Spain’s Rodrigo Rato, steps down in October.

Strauss-Kahn, 58, is a respected advocate of social democratic economics. He received backing from the chairman of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over monthly meetings of euro zone finance ministers and the European Central Bank.