EU gives blessing to appoint *cough* Wolfowitz *cough* to head World Bank

[xpanda]

WTF?

Wolfowitz Gets EU Blessing for World Bank Job
Wed Mar 30, 8:43 AM ET

By Mark John and Aine Gallagher

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European ministers gave the green light Wednesday for U.S. nominee Paul Wolfowitz to take over as head of the World Bank after hearing soothing assurances on fighting poverty from the architect of the Iraq war.

The U.S. deputy secretary of defense came to Brussels on the eve of a World Bank board meeting that will pick a successor to James Wolfensohn, the veteran outgoing head of an institution that lends to the world's poorest nations.

Wolfowitz stressed his commitment to the mission of fighting poverty in a statement after the talks, promising to consult Europe and ensure it had a proper say in the bank's management.

The executive European Commission said it was happy with the commitments that Wolfowitz had given EU finance and development officials and Germany said it expected EU governors to back him.

Commissioner Olli Rehn "was satisfied with everything he heard from Mr. Wolfowitz concerning free trade and also on poverty reduction and development policy," a spokeswoman said.

Wolfowitz, more widely associated with the unilateral use of U.S. military power than with development policy, said he knew his neo-conservative image worried some in Europe.

"I understand that I'm to put it mildly a controversial figure," he told a news conference. "But as people get to know me better, they will understand that I really do believe deeply in the mission of the bank."

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who had voiced open skepticism when President Bush first nominated the outspoken hawk, told reporters after the meeting: "I expect that he will get the European and German support."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chaired the meeting as EU president, described Wolfowitz repeatedly as "the incoming president of the World Bank."

He arranged the talks, which included big donors but non-EU members Switzerland and Norway, in response to private unease among European governments. The American's willingness to cross the Atlantic at short notice was seen as a goodwill gesture.

Some present spoke of a charm offensive by Wolfowitz.

"He played it very carefully...he wasn't arrogant," Belgian Development and Cooperation Minister Armand de Decker said. "He said a lot of things during the discussion to please Europe."

Swedish International Development Minister Carin Jamtin said Wolfowitz would be held to account on his frequent assertions that he would consult widely and adopt a multilateral approach.

"He has said these things so often in public, in interviews and in meetings like these that there will be many of us to remind him of what he said," she told Reuters after the talks.

However aid agency ActionAid said in a statement it feared that Wolfowitz would thwart a high-profile plan by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to cut African debt and would insist poor countries privatize and deregulate their industries.

The Europeans want a larger role in running the bank, but diplomats said there had been no talk of specific posts.

France had floated the head of the Paris Club of creditor nations, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, to be Wolfowitz's deputy, they said. One EU diplomat said Wolfowitz had given no pledge to appoint a European deputy "but I think he understood us."

There was no mention of any other trade-off in return for European backing at a time when EU leaders are trying to mend fences with Washington after the Iraq war.

Diplomats noted the EU also sought U.S. support for its candidate to head the World Trade Organization, former European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, while individual EU states also wanted backing for their candidates to head the U.N. Development Program and for U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...nm/20050330/wl_nm/worldbank_wolfowitz_eu_dc_4

 

[PatPatriot]

Fine choice! Fine Choice!

 

[xpanda]

Even Bush can't explain why Wolfowitz is a good choice. Could you elaborate for those of us that are a wee bit baffled by this whole thing?

 

[PatPatriot]

Hey all I know pumpkin pie is he has to have as much credibility as Kofi at the UN.
That world bank stuff is your area.

I might be with you on this one, because anything the EU for I'm against.

 

[xpanda]

Lol ... you guys crack me up.

I'd like to think that the World Bank was headed by someone with oh, I dunno, a degree in Economics and maybe not such a big Whoopsie! on his resume as the Iraq war for Wolfie. Well, like his stint at the PNAC, he gets to sleep with the corporatists again ...

And to think I gave the World Bank a slightly higher ranking than the IMF. I'll have to retract that now.

 

[PatPatriot]

lmao...Jesus I'm glad I'm not on your bad side.

You think there might have been a little tit for tat somewhere along the line?

We'll play with Kofi if you play with Paulie?

 

[xpanda]

Maybe, but I don't think that's the one. I think it was more like: "If Paul promises OUR corporate interests at least as many blow jobs as you Yanks get, then Okey Dokey by us!"

Like Italy, Britain and the helicopter contracts. It's all tit for tat and scratching backs.

I think I'm getting sick of politics.