| Köhler: back to the core issues and away from "mission creep" |
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The contrast between Michel Camdessus and his successor as IMF managing director is stark.
Horst Köhler, the image of Teutonic efficiency and practicality, has already made it clear that he wants a more focused IMF that will do less, yet be poised to do it faster. The expansionary, even imperial IMF is out. A leaner, possibly meaner Fund is in.
Köhler isn't a politician, though several of Germany's leading political Figures were his mentors, chancellor Helmut Kohl among them.
Köhler instead sees himself as "a political civil servant, with the emphasis on servant," according to one former associate.
A skilled diplomat who has been tested with major responsibilities in the crucible that was German reunification, Köhler reputedly has a short fuse.