BRUSSELS/STRASBOURG: European Union leaders agreed on Tuesday to name France’s Christine Lagarde as the new head of the European Central Bank. Besides, EU leaders have also sealed a deal on filling the EU’s other top four jobs after marathon talks that have exposed deep divisions in the bloc.

Lagarde, once France’s first woman finance minister and since 2011 head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a strong advocate of female empowerment, although she has no direct, active monetary policy experience. The biggest task for Lagarde, who had previously denied any interest in an EU job, will be to revive the euro zone economy.

“Christine Lagarde will … be a perfect president of the European Central Bank,” President of the European Council Donald Tusk said. “I am absolutely sure that she will be a very independent president …”