Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister and contender for the Socialist nomination for the French presidency, has pushed through changes that allow the IMF to lend without conditions in some circumstances, and to give greater priority to protecting social safety nets (including unemployment benefits and healthcare systems). He has also moved the Fund decisively away from its obsession with fiscal austerity measures (a big early mistake – with lasting traumatic consequences – in Indonesia and Korea in late 1997).