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Australia’s Mathias Cormann on Friday was selected to head the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), beating out Sweden’s Cecilia Malmström, a former EU trade commissioner.
Cormann, a former Australian finance minister who was born in Belgium, was picked in a closed-door selection process and will take over from Mexico’s Ángel Gurría on June 1. Cormann and Malmström were the final two left standing after a contest that began with 10 candidates last November.
The OECD hasn’t had a European leader for a quarter of a century — even though 25 of the OECD’s 37 members are from the EU or the European Economic Area — and has never been led by a woman.
Cormann’s stance on climate change had been a concern in the run-up to the vote. Last week, several international climate change groups wrote to the OECD expressing “grave concerns” about Cormann, saying his role as Australia’s finance minister between 2013 and 2020 made it “highly unlikely” he could play an effective role in pushing for ambitious action on cutting emissions.
Headquartered in Paris, the OECD has come to play a growing role in international cooperation issues such as tax policy. In recent months, political leaders have been looking to the OECD to help broker a compromise in a controversial debate over taxing giant digital companies, which has pitted Brussels and Washington against each other.
The leadership contest also focused on other simmering issues, including climate change and China.
But perhaps the most pressing issue for the next OECD head will be the transatlantic rumble over how to tax companies such as Google and Facebook — negotiations that have grown tense. If the OECD cannot facilitate a deal, the EU has threatened to push ahead and impose its own tax — likely over U.S. objections.
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