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EU ministers seen moving to back Wolfowitz
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-23 09:55

European Union nations are slowly moving toward endorsing Paul Wolfowitz as the next World Bank president, Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm said Tuesday.

At an EU finance ministers meeting, held in the margin of a European summit, Zalm said there were no "very negative attitudes" toward the former U.S. deputy defense chief, who was an architect of the Iraq war.

"I think he is taken as a serious candidate by everyone," Zalm said.

Many of the 25 EU governments were holding off on endorsing Wolfowitz until after he has met with Louis Michel, the EU development affairs commissioner, and others at the EU head office, Zalm said. No date has been set for that meeting.

President Bush nominated Wolfwowitz last week to succeed James Wolfensohn, the current World Bank chief.

Germany, Britain and Italy already have publicly backed Wolfowitz. France's ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, stopped short of endorsing Wolfowitz in a speech at Yale University on Tuesday but said he respected him as "a man who is very clever and has a real vision and a lot of experience."

"I hope he will be the most convincing president of the World Bank, to convince President Bush to put more money into the World Bank," Levitte said.

The United States, as the bank's largest shareholder, traditionally puts forward a candidate to lead the bank, which is usually accepted by the institution's 24-member board.



 
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