http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/international/europe/31wolfowitz.html?page wanted=print <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/international/europe/31wolfowitz.html?pag ewanted=print&position> &position=
March 31, 2005 Europe on Wolfowitz as Banker: Once Chilly, Now Tepid By ELAINE SCIOLINO <http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=ELAINE%20SCIOLINO&fdq=19 960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=ELAINE%20SCIOLINO&inline=nyt-per> PARIS, March 30 - Paul D. Wolfowitz came to Europe on Wednesday as a supplicant for its good will, shedding his image as a unilateralist hawk and entreating his hosts to approve him as the world's banker for the poor. The five-hour visit to Brussels by Mr. Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense and President Bush's nominee to head the World Bank, was a response to a request by the European Union for a meeting. It was intended to prove that the man who is viewed by many here as an unrelenting neoconservative and leading architect of the invasion of Iraq can shift course and run the global organization that lends money and sets economic policy for much of the developing world. "I understand that I am, putting it mildly, a controversial figure," Mr. Wolfowitz told reporters. "But I hope as people get to know me better they will understand that I really do believe deeply in the mission of the bank." He vowed to create a multinational team to run the bank, without explicitly promising to appoint a European as his deputy. The engagement strategy with Europe, by Mr. Wolfowitz on Wednesday and during visits by President Bush and his security aides last month, seems to be working. The Europeans, who hold 30 percent of the voting shares on the bank's board, could have tried to take revenge for what they see as the unilateralism of the Bush administration, either by rejecting Mr. Wolfowitz outright or delaying his appointment. Instead, leaders have signaled that they are ready to approve him, however grudgingly, when the nomination comes to a vote on Tuesday, the latest sign of a new pragmatism in Europe to repair relations with the United States. Indeed, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, spoke Wednesday as if the nomination had already been approved. "We had a constructive and friendly meeting where European ministers were putting all the questions they wanted to put to the incoming president of the World Bank," Mr. Juncker told reporters. Other European officials seem to have resigned themselves. Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der of Germany, for example, who staunchly opposed the American-led war in Iraq, said last week that Mr. Wolfowitz's nomination "does not lead to an overflow of enthusiasm in Europe," but he pledged, "His nomination will not fail because of Germany." On Wednesday, Mr. Schr�der's development aid minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who also had expressed reservations, said she was encouraged by Mr. Wolfowitz's presentation, saying, "This is for him a new beginning, and we judge him according on what he said today." In France, which also opposed the war in Iraq, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier initially told reporters that Mr. Wolfowitz's nomination would be examined "in the context of the personality of the person you mention and perhaps in view of other candidates." Now France has decided to accept the nomination, but wants a Frenchman as his deputy, to elevate France's profile and influence in the World Bank, and to ensure that the Bush administration does not use the bank to promote its own agenda. France is promoting the idea of a European deputy to Mr. Wolfowitz to sit alongside two other deputies, one from poorer nations and one from developing countries like China. It is floating the name of Jean-Pierre Jouyet, 51, chairman of the Paris Club, an international debt-relief agency. The European Union is also seeking American support for its candidate to head the World Trade Organization: Pascal Lamy of France, who was Europe's trade commissioner. Under a tradition going back to the founding of the World Bank 60 years ago, the United States, the bank's largest shareholder, puts forward its own candidate to head the institution. Europeans nominate the head of its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund. Still, suspicion about Mr. Wolfowitz runs deep in Europe, as evidenced by the firestorm of protest of his nomination among political commentators and in much of the European news media. The nomination proved that "Bush did not give a damn about the reaction," a commentator in the German business daily Handelsblatt wrote. "Many will consider Wolfowitz's nomination a provocation." In France, centrist Le Monde last week called the nomination "a new manifestation of America's arrogance" as well as "indifference or even cynicism towards poor countries." The left-leaning Lib�ration even called on Europe to veto the nomination. In Italy, the business-oriented Il Sole 24 Ore said that if Mr. Wolfowitz became president of the bank, "it will not be easy to 'sell' the World Bank as an institution that takes care of the poor in the world." But both Europe and the United States have pledged to heal the political damage caused by the war in Iraq. Blocking the nomination would have been both damaging in terms of trans-Atlantic relations and unlikely to succeed. Earlier this month, the European Union signaled that it was likely to delay a proposal to lift its arms embargo against China after intense American opposition. In recent weeks, the European Union in general and France in particular have worked in lockstep with the Bush administration to press Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. In policy shifts, the United States, for its part, has agreed to support up to a point the European negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and has left open the door for the militant Shiite group Hezbollah to enter Lebanese politics. Katrin Bennhold of The International Herald Tribune contributed reporting from Paris for this article, and Graham Bowley, also of The Tribune, contributedfrom Brussels. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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