Lenihan last in Europe finance ministers poll

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has come last in the Financial Times' survey of European finance ministers.

The financial crisis has propelled French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to top spot among European finance ministers, in the view of a Financial Times panel.

'The judges loved her performances on the international stage when it came to regulation and the future of banking,' the Financial Times said about Ms Lagarde.

Brian Lenihan, at 19th place, came last in the survey. He was second last in 2008.

One judge actually praised Mr Lenihan's bold measures to address the country's severe economic and banking crisis, but most were reeling from his 'go-it-alone' approach in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the FT said.

The judges voted Peer Steinbruck, German finance minister until the recent election, into second place, and Belgian minister Didier Reynders into third place. Fourth came Anders Borg of Sweden, fifth Giulio Tremonti of Italy, then Josef Proll of Austria, Jacek Rostowski of Poland, and Alistair Darling of Britain in seventh place.

The FT's panel of judges awarded the fourth annual European finance minister of the year award to Lagarde, who is also French economy minister, after 12 months of 'highly testing world economic drama.'

Lagarde, a fluent English speaker, qualified as a lawyer and rose to a high-profile job in international finance in Chicago in the US before arriving in ministerial office. Sometimes mentioned as a possible prime minister, she is also regarded, however, as being outside the inner circle of President Nicolas Sarkozy's confidants.

The study benchmarks performances by drawing on data and a panel of economists and commentators. It said 2009 was a year when finance ministers had to throw away their usual scripts and improvise on policy as Europe battled against the worst crisis since World War 2.

The paper says that European states also had to act together, co-ordinating among themselves and at endless global summits aimed at putting the show back on the road.