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Pascal Lamy is the eighth director general of the WTO and a member of the French Socialist Party since 1969. He gained a reputation for being a fierce and precise man during his time as chief of staff under Jacques Delor. Lamy was responsible for a substantial restructuring of Credit Lyonnais before returning to the European Commission as European Commissioner for Trade. He was chosen as director general of the WTO in 2005. Lamy is a firm believer in free trade but has recently spoken out in favor of more regulation. He is an example of a free market socialist.
Pascal Lamy is the eighth director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He took over the position in 2005, taking over from Supachai Panitchpakdi. Pascal Lamy has been, like his counterpart at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a member of the French Socialist Party since 1969.
Pascal Lamy was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1947, studied economics at HEC Business School, then at Sciences Po, and finally at ENA. He went on to advise various political candidates, including the minister of economy and finance, Jacques Delor, and the prime minister, Pierre Mauroy. In 1984 Jacques Delor was elected president of the European Commission and Pascal Lamy accompanied him as chief of staff, a position he held for ten years.
It was during his time under Delor that Pascal Lamy gained a reputation as a fierce and precise man, giving strict instructions on how to do things to everyone he met, including department heads at the European Commission. He was given the nickname “Beast of the Berlaymont” during this period, as was the Gendarme.
After Jacques Delor finished his mandate at the European Commission in 1994, Pascal Lamy moved into the private sector, joining Credit Lyonnais. During his time there he was responsible for a fairly substantial restructuring of the bank, privatizing it under a major privatization program under Socialist Party colleague Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who would later become head of the International Monetary Fund.
In 1999 Pascal Lamy returned to the European Commission, this time as European Commissioner for Trade. His rigorous style again became a hallmark of his time on the Commission and earned him much praise, as he was seen as keeping different groups on track and helping to boost Europe’s economic status. His mandate expired in 2004 and the following year he was chosen as director general of the World Trade Organization.
Pascal Lamy, while a firm believer in free trade, as befits the director general of the Philosophy Executor in the Global Market, has also recently spoken out in favor of more regulation. He noted that, particularly in the world of international finance, more prudent regulation could have helped avoid some of the damaging fallout seen recently. He also obliquely criticized the United States for lacking more socialized protections for its population, pointing out that the safety net for US citizens is less than average among industrialized nations and that the consequences of economic hardship are much more drastic in nations without strong safety nets.
Pascal Lamy, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, can be seen as an example of a free market socialist. He embraces many of the protections of socialized societies, such as limited work weeks, health care and government subsidies, while continuing to push for a largely free market world in terms of international trade. Many socialists would consider this anathema to the ideals of socialism, and so it is sometimes referred to as socialized free trade instead.
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