FACTBOX-Facts on potential IMF candidate Strauss-Kahn

(Reuters) - A majority of European Union finance ministers back former French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be Europe's candidate to run the International Monetary Fund, the EU presidency said on Tuesday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has nominated the Socialist veteran to succeed Spain's Rodrigo Rato when he leaves the IMF in October. Strauss-Kahn has not yet commented on his possible candidacy.

Following are facts about Strauss-Kahn.

* Born in 1949, "DSK" was hailed as the architect of France's economic recovery in the late 1990s. As Socialist finance minister from 1997 till 1999, he reduced the public deficit to qualify France for the euro, saw economic growth surge and unemployment fall.

* Strauss-Kahn opened the way for the privatisation of France Telecom and other state-owned enterprises, winning him plaudits in the market but suspicion in some Socialist circles.

* He resigned as finance minister in 1999, after coming under official investigation in a corruption scandal. A court later cleared him, saying Strauss-Kahn had backdated documents to justify property transaction fees he had collected as a lawyer, but that this did not amount to forgery.

Two more investigations involving Strauss-Kahn were dropped.

One of these included allegations he had arranged for payments to a personal secretary from former state-owned French oil firm Elf. A second centred on suggestions he had withheld evidence in a corruption probe against President Jacques Chirac.

* Last year, Strauss-Kahn lost a primary to become his party's presidential candidate against regional leader Segolene Royal. During that campaign, Strauss-Kahn presented himself as a candidate of the middle ground and said he wanted his leftist party to become a social-democratic force. Royal later indicated he would have been her prime minister had she beaten Sarkozy.

* His gift for languages has boosted his international profile, while his marriage to TV interviewer Anne Sinclair has earned him much tabloid coverage at home. Strauss-Kahn has worked as an economics professor before and during his political career.