The European Council officially nominated on Tuesday Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, to become the next president of the European Central Bank. The choice was particularly difficult this year given the fragmented outcome of the European parliamentary elections in late May, and the variety of top jobs that are up for grabs before the end of the year. European citizens voted mostly for pro-EU parties in the May election. However, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which had been a powerful force driving EU politics over the last four decades, lost quite a lot of ... (full story)