Dominique Strauss-Kahn's soujourn on Riker's Island in May 2011 opened up an unexpected window of opportunity for the "killer shark" from Baker & McKenzie
The Rothschild connection is just one of the links to the world of international finance shared by Emmanuel Macron and Thierry Breton who are also both well acquainted with Christine Largade, the former boss of the IMF in Washington and now head of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
"In this part we will look at her connections to Macron and how he helped the "killer shark" to resurface in European waters earlier this year by means of his political machinations in Brussels."Largarde had over two decades of experience with Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie before returning to France in June 2005 to follow a career in politics.
She started as Minister for Trade under Jacques Chirac and continued as Minister for Economy and Finance under his successor, Nicolas Sarkozy until she was parachuted in as head of the IMF in an emergency operation to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) in July 2011.
DSK on his travels as IMF boss. Is he waiting for the room service?
"Largarde had over two decades of experience with Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie before returning to France in June 2005 to follow a career in politics."Lagarde is the living personification of the Davos neo-liberal open economy idea of modern globalised capitalism. However, during her time at the head of the IMF, she occasionally dropped hints that the decades-long run of unrestrained laissez-faire by, for, and of the rich was no longer sustainable.
Unfortunately, despite all the impressive sound-bytes it has never been clear what concrete policies and programs "Madame Bailout" advocates to deal with the problem of rising inequality which she loves to talk about.
Breton's links to Lagarde have already been examined in an earlier part of the series.
Macron's ministerial photo-ops with "Madame Bailout of the IMF"
"During his time as Minister for the Economy in the government of the great vacillator François "Flanby" Hollande, Macron often appeared in photo-ops with the IMF's "Madame Bailout"."More recently, at an EU summit at the start of July 2019, Macron played a key role in brokering a deal for the distribution of top jobs which amongst other things saw Lagarde being "repatriated" from her lair in Washington and parachuted in to lead the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt.
It remains to be seen whether the new head of the ECB will show the same level of passionate and unquestioning devotion to her current political sponsor as she did to her earlier patron, Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Dear Nicolas… use me for as long as it suits you and suits your plans and casting call…"
Brigitte Macron greeting Lagarde's elusive companion Xavier Giocanti at a lunch and concert held at the Palace of Versailles in November 2018
"In contrast to his better known partner, Giocanti seems to be keen to avoid the limelight as much as possible and there may be good reasons for his desire to keep a low profile."The businessman's track record is not necessarily something that the recently appointed head of the European Central Bank would want to be publicly associated with.
Giocanti, who was born on 16 September 1954 in Marseille, has family roots in Guagno in southern Corsica.
From 2003 to 2005, he was in charge of the Center for the Promotion of Employment through Microenterprise (CPEM), now renamed the Marseille Métropole Initiative, a micro-credit platform supported by public and private funding and dedicated to the creation and implementation of small businesses.
In July 2010, following an investigation by the EU anti-fraud agency OLAF into "serious irregularities" in CPEM's accounts, the European Court of Justice ruled that CPEM should reimburse an amount of almost € 1 million in EU subsidies.
As we saw in an earlier part of the series, Christine is no stranger to getting a slap on the wrist from the courts of law for misuse of public funds.
"The businessman's track record is not necessarily something that the recently appointed head of the European Central Bank would want to be publicly associated with."Given her high-profile position at the head of the ECB, it is understandable that she would prefer to keep Xavier's misdemeanours out of the glare of public scrutiny as much as possible.
In the next part we will see at how Macron not only helped the "killer shark" to resurface in Frankfurt but also helped Ursula von der Leyen to secure another plum EU job at the head of the European Commission where amongst other things she will be Thierry Breton's "boss" when he takes up his new job as Commissioner for the Internal Market. ⬆