Agence France-Presse quotes Global Business and Economics Program Director Andrea Montanino on how Christine Lagarde’s otherwise stellar career is haunted by Greece:
In the spring of 2012, she ruffled the Greeks when, with the country already suffering a brutal austerity regime, she demanded that they “pay their taxes”. And in recent days, after another round in the five-month-old negotiations between creditors and Greece ended without progress, she dryly bemoaned the lack of “adults in the room”, implicitly pointing at Athens’ representation.
“She’s a person that can be very polite, very nice but can be also very harsh and even scary when she wants to make a point,” said Andrea Montanino, Italy’s former representative at the IMF.