[Excerpt: 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 Tuesday....."We fear his appointment risks the bank becoming seen as a tool of the current controversial U.S. foreign policy," the statement said.]
http://64.236.16.116/2005/WORLD/europe/03/23/eu.summit.wolfowitz/index.html Europe 'won't block Wolfowitz' Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Posted: 9:31 AM EST (1431 GMT) BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European leaders say they will not oppose the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank, despite initial misgivings about his role in the Iraq war. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking at a news conference 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 a two-day European Union summit. The surprise nomination of Wolfowitz by U.S. President George W. Bush has drawn criticism some in Europe because of his advocacy of using U.S. military power to invade Iraq. Schroeder told reporters he recently spoke to Bush about he 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 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 British Broadcasting Corp. radio Wednesday. Italian Economy Domenico Sinicalco said in Brussels that 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 Tuesday. "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 choices the World Bank president for a five-year term, while Europeans nominate the head of its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund. China arms embargo The nomination of Wolfowitz has been point of much discussion at the EU summit, along with a controversial issue of lifting the bloc's arms embargo on China. On Wednesday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urges European leaders to back the elimination of the ban, saying Beijing was making progress on human rights. (Full story) "It is not justified to maintain (the embargo)," Solana told reporters in Brussels. "Things are moving (on human rights)." He noted that the European Union had a regular dialogue with China on human rights and that the United States had not sought to censure China at the current session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Solana said there had been no official change in policy since EU leaders agreed last December to work towards lifting the 15-year embargo by the end of June, Reuters reported. But the 25-member bloc is widely expected to delay lifting the embargo amid opposition from the United States and concern over Beijing's passage of a law authorizing the use of military forces against Taiwan. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province which must be reunited with the mainland eventually. The embargo was imposed on China after the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square. Europe has long been divided over the ban, with some leaders calling it a Cold War relic that blocks trade opportunities. Germany and France France have been pushing for an early end to the ban, despite China's new law concerning Taiwan. Schroeder, the German chancellor, told reporters on Wednesday that "nothing has changed, and nothing has changed in my position." French President Jacques Chirac insisted on Tuesday that the lifting the embargo would not lead to more arms exports. "The Europeans have no intention of launching a policy of arms exports to China, which is not asking for this," he told the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun. "What the Europeans want to do is normalise relations with China." EU membership talks Meanwhile on Wednesday, EU leaders agreed to send a mission to Croatia to reaffirm the country's EU membership aspirations, but insisted it still needed to hand over a fugitive war crimes suspect before entry talks can start, The Associated Press reported. "Croatia must satisfy the norms of EU membership," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said after the summit. "Part of that is respecting our demands for the extradition of war crimes suspects." A week after EU foreign ministers postponed the start of membership talks, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary pressed the other EU nations to give Croatia a new starting date by June. On Tuesday, the leaders back a revision of controversial plans to open up the bloc's vast services sector. They also promised that a deregulation bill will be radically rewritten in the hope that French voters will not reject the European Union constitution in a referendum in May. (Full story) A new opinion poll suggests that most French voters would reject the EU constitution if a referendum were held today -- in part because of opposition to reforms designed to make the European economy more flexible, which unions see as an attack on job security and social services. EU leaders are also being asked to approve a reform of the euro stability rules, which would give members countries more room to raise budget deficits to spur the economy. (Full story) EU finance ministers on Sunday completed five months of negotiations, agreeing to allow member's budget deficits -- in exceptional circumstances -- to exceed the current ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. 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