Europeans may seek own interview with Wolfowitz

Europeans may seek own interview with Wolfowitz

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - European members of the World Bank's board may seek to separately interview Paul Wolfowitz for the job of World Bank president, bank sources said on Thursday, reflecting Europe's concern about whether he is the right man for the job.

The decision was made during a meeting by European representatives on the board, including Germany, France and Italy, to discuss the Bush administration's choice of Wolfowitz to replace James Wolfensohn as president of the World Bank.

The U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary is considered a controversial choice because of his role as a chief architect of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which caused rifts with many of the nations with which he would work at the World Bank.

"The Europeans want to interview him by themselves and not inside the board," one source, close to the board told Reuters. Many of the European governments that opposed the Iraq war have yet to be convinced that Wolfowitz, 61, has the proper credentials for the World Bank presidency.

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http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=7936706

HAS to run the World Bank? Why can't another different nationality hold this position, like the UN handles it? I'm sure there's a better candidate out there somewhere!

that's what I wanna know...

Assuming Europe uses all those votes to veto him and they can pick up 20% from somewhere else.

He can be rejected as the US did for the last IMF leader. Don't know the details required to obtain consensus.

This is a piece from Germany today.

But French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Wolfowitz's nomination was only a "proposal." "We're going to examine it with respect to his character ... and eventually with respect to other candidates," he said at an EU meeting in Brussels.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1521182,00.html

more than any other country, that means we get to more or less decide. Historically the U.S. decides who will head up the World Bank and the Europeans decide who will head the International Monetary Fund.

It'll make a great movie someday.

:D

sorry, had to throw an incubus ref in there.

for a completly corrupt "bank".

Could these regions go their own way?

The Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. The US is a fairly large donor to both. The ADB is traditionally headed by a Japanese. ADB is fairly large, IADB much less so. (There are also other regional banks - the African Development Bank, an Islamic Development Bank - both pretty small - and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.)

More power? It must be important if they want Wolfkowitz in there to spread imperialism. (Or perhaps they want him out of lawsuits and tribunals).

I think he should be locked in a room until he tells us where the missing DOD money is.

he's a total disaster wherever he is. I sincerely hope the Europeans kick up a major ruckus and derail this, though I'm not all that optimistic. His appointment is a major concern to development types because of fears he will attempt to change the institution in the wrong ways - back to larger infrastructure projects and away from the more recent trend towards greater use of grants, and more focus on community-driven development, HIV/AIDS, health, etc. And, of course, that he will try to push a US agenda, including Bush's definition of "democratization" as a goal, on an institution that has a broad membership that often is opposed to the goals of this Administration, or at a minimum, their methods. Witness the pressure on the World Bank to lend early to support Iraq reconstruction, and the difficulty it had resisting that, even to protect their own staff, and you have already an example of the things that concern many member countries, and staff of the institution itself, I'm sure.

As to why -- the World Bank was first - Marshall Plan and all that - and is the biggest. Some would argue it spends more on research and cross-country, cross-regional work, and has more expertise. Some would argue it has more prestige because the quality of its staff have traditionally been high. The others spun off for various reasons. And, some have a slightly different focus - the European Bank, for instance, focuses more on private sector type things. I'm honestly not that familiar with the Islamic and African development banks.

... skilled Russian (former KGB) 'inquisitor' standing by. :evilgrin:

:spank:

Wolfie gets to be head of the bank, but he has to stop carrying the shrunken head of an Iraqi around on his keychain.