EU to Discuss World Bank Succession at Summit

March 21, 2005

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union summit will discuss Tuesday the controversial U.S. nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank after the candidate agreed to meet the EU's development commissioner.

EU finance ministers attending the summit will consider who should head the global lending institution for developing countries at the summit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in a letter to his European counterparts.

European governments have reacted with private unease to Washington's choice of Wolfowitz, best known as the architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, for the job. The Netherlands said on Sunday it would have liked a wider field of candidates.

The executive European Commission said Monday that Wolfowitz had accepted an invitation to meet EU commissioner Louis Michel and explain his views on development and poverty reduction, the bank's key missions.

"The reply was a positive one. Mr. Wolfowitz will meet Mr. Michel, we will give you precise details when we have them," spokeswoman Pia Ahrendkilde Hansen told a news conference.

But EU officials later clarified that no date had been set and it was not clear whether the meeting would occur before or after the World Bank's board meets to pick a successor to outgoing president James Wolfensohn, whose term ends on May 31.

The Europeans collectively hold the most shares in the bank with 30 percent, but the United States is the biggest single shareholder with 17 percent.

UNLIKELY TO BLOCK

Diplomats say EU governments are unlikely to block Wolfowitz at a time when they are seeking to heal rifts over the Iraq war with President Bush.

In a letter obtained by Reuters Monday, Juncker said that while EU leaders meet Tuesday and Wednesday, "the issues addressed by finance ministers will include the presidential succession at the World Bank."

Officials of Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency, said ministers were not expected formally to agree a common line.

The World Bank provides soft loans, policy advice and technical assistance to reduce poverty in low and middle-income countries.

The views of European finance ministers are important because their representatives sit on the 24-seat board of the Washington-based bank which represents the 184 member states.

Although his candidacy is controversial, Wolfowitz's approval by the bank's board -- which operates by consensus -- is widely seen as a foregone conclusion.

SOURCE: Reuters