Global Policy Forum

By Mark John and Aine Gallagher

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, praising the EU's role in development and promising to consult Europe regularly and ensure it was properly represented in the bank's management.

The executive European Commission said it was happy with the commitments 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 Commission spokeswoman said. German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who had voiced open skepticism when President Bush first nominated the outspoken hawk, told reporters: "I expect that he will get the European and German support." Asked about his role in the Iraq war, she said: "This is for him a new beginning as well."

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."

"Incoming President"

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 major aid 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 strong goodwill gesture.

Juncker told Reuters earlier that the Europeans would seek a larger role in running the bank, but diplomats said there was no discussion of specific jobs or candidates. "We have to make sure that Europeans will be represented in a better way on the managing board of the bank," Juncker said. Diplomats said the Europeans wanted him to make three senior appointments alongside the existing Chinese managing director -- one European, one African and one from an emerging nation. France had floated the head of the Paris Club of creditor nations, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, to be Wolfowitz's deputy under this arrangement, they said.

One senior 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.

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