(Bloomberg) -- European Union finance ministers are backing Kristalina Georgieva for a second term as head of the International Monetary Fund, Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said.

Support was unanimous among EU member states, he told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

“Last Friday, Kristalina Georgieva expressed her willingness to actually serve for a second term at the helm at the IMF if she has enough support among the membership,” he said. “Today, I’m very happy to announce that all European member states actually expressed that support.”

Georgieva’s current five-year term ends in September. Tuesday’s decision already looked likely after the finance chiefs of the bloc’s two biggest economies — Germany and France — both expressed their support for the 70-year-old Bulgarian economist.

“I think that Kristalina showed strong leadership the last couple of years, especially during unprecedented crises, and that she also provided support to all the members,” Van Peteghem said.

Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe, touted as a potential rival for the top job at the IMF, said after a meeting of euro-area finance ministers on Monday that Georgieva steered the institution through the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine in an “incredibly inclusive way.”

The IMF’s managing director is formally appointed by the institution’s executive board, which consists of 24 people elected by its member countries. It is customary for the Europeans to choose the IMF chief, while the US can decide on who leads the World Bank. Both institutions are based in Washington.

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