Niccolo
29thMarch2005, 18:13
Direct Link - CNN.com 29/03/2005 (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/29/eu.wolfowitz/index.html)
Wolfowitz heads for EU meeting
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted: 1021 GMT (1821 HKT)
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Paul Wolfowitz (tribe member), Washington's nominee to head the World Bank, will be in Brussels Wednesday to meet with European Union officials, diplomats said.
Last week, World Bank officials said Wolfowitz would go to Luxembourg to present his views on the agency's role to European economic and aid ministers. Luxembourg holds the rotating EU presidency.
However, diplomats said the meeting would now be in Brussels, Reuters reported.
"It will be in Brussels tomorrow at some time," one diplomat said Tuesday, adding that Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker would be present.
European leaders meeting at a summit last week in Brussels said they would not oppose Wolfowitz's nomination, despite initial misgivings about his role in the Iraq war.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking at a news conference last Wednesday in Brussels, said Wolfowitz's bid to lead the global development-funding group "will not fail because of Germany."
"And I have the impression that it will not fail due to the other countries in Europe," he said at the conclusion of the two-day EU summit.
The surprise nomination of Wolfowitz by U.S. President George W. Bush drew some criticism in Europe because of his advocacy of using U.S. military power to invade Iraq.
Schroeder told reporters he recently spoke to Bush about his choice of Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, to succeed James Wolfensohn as World Bank president.
"I told him that I believed Europe's enthusiasm would be limited but that the appointment would not fail because of Germany," said Schroeder, who was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war.
Other EU leaders at the summit indicated there would be no objections to Wolfowitz's nomination
"The realpolitik of the situation is that in all likelihood Mr. Wolfowitz will be appointed as chairman of the bank," Irish Finance Minister Brian Cowen told reporters.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (another one of the tribe) said his government, America's main ally in the war in Iraq, would be happy to work with Wolfowitz.
"My own belief is that if Paul Wolfowitz is confirmed by the board of governors of the World Bank that people will be pleasantly surprised by this man," he told BBC radio.
Italian Economy Domenico Sinicalco said Wolfowitz was a "good candidate" for the World Bank job, while Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld described him as a "very positive and clear-cut person." Italy and Poland also supported the Iraq war.
Concern over Wolfowitz's nomination prompted more than 1,300 European aid organizations to put their names to a statement voicing "strong concern" about Wolfowitz's nomination, Reuters reported.
"We fear his appointment risks the bank becoming seen as a tool of the current controversial U.S. foreign policy," the statement said.
Traditionally, the United States chooses the World Bank president for a five-year term, while Europeans nominate the head of its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund.
Wolfowitz heads for EU meeting
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted: 1021 GMT (1821 HKT)
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Paul Wolfowitz (tribe member), Washington's nominee to head the World Bank, will be in Brussels Wednesday to meet with European Union officials, diplomats said.
Last week, World Bank officials said Wolfowitz would go to Luxembourg to present his views on the agency's role to European economic and aid ministers. Luxembourg holds the rotating EU presidency.
However, diplomats said the meeting would now be in Brussels, Reuters reported.
"It will be in Brussels tomorrow at some time," one diplomat said Tuesday, adding that Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker would be present.
European leaders meeting at a summit last week in Brussels said they would not oppose Wolfowitz's nomination, despite initial misgivings about his role in the Iraq war.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking at a news conference last Wednesday in Brussels, said Wolfowitz's bid to lead the global development-funding group "will not fail because of Germany."
"And I have the impression that it will not fail due to the other countries in Europe," he said at the conclusion of the two-day EU summit.
The surprise nomination of Wolfowitz by U.S. President George W. Bush drew some criticism in Europe because of his advocacy of using U.S. military power to invade Iraq.
Schroeder told reporters he recently spoke to Bush about his choice of Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, to succeed James Wolfensohn as World Bank president.
"I told him that I believed Europe's enthusiasm would be limited but that the appointment would not fail because of Germany," said Schroeder, who was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war.
Other EU leaders at the summit indicated there would be no objections to Wolfowitz's nomination
"The realpolitik of the situation is that in all likelihood Mr. Wolfowitz will be appointed as chairman of the bank," Irish Finance Minister Brian Cowen told reporters.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (another one of the tribe) said his government, America's main ally in the war in Iraq, would be happy to work with Wolfowitz.
"My own belief is that if Paul Wolfowitz is confirmed by the board of governors of the World Bank that people will be pleasantly surprised by this man," he told BBC radio.
Italian Economy Domenico Sinicalco said Wolfowitz was a "good candidate" for the World Bank job, while Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld described him as a "very positive and clear-cut person." Italy and Poland also supported the Iraq war.
Concern over Wolfowitz's nomination prompted more than 1,300 European aid organizations to put their names to a statement voicing "strong concern" about Wolfowitz's nomination, Reuters reported.
"We fear his appointment risks the bank becoming seen as a tool of the current controversial U.S. foreign policy," the statement said.
Traditionally, the United States chooses the World Bank president for a five-year term, while Europeans nominate the head of its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund.