Paul Wolfowitz, the architect of the Iraq war, on Wednesday wooed and won over sceptical and hostile European ministers with a pledge to fight global poverty, ensuring his selection on Thursday as the next World Bank president.
The United States Deputy Defence Secretary, a leading light in the neo-conservative circle around President George Bush and an arch-unilateralist, overcame lingering objections to his appointment by striking a conciliatory tone towards his critics and repeatedly underlining the bank’s multilateralist role.
But Wolfowitz refused to give an immediate pledge that he would select a European as his senior deputy, and ruffled feathers by linking aid and development to the Bush agenda of promoting political freedom and good governance.
”He told us nothing and gave nothing away,” a senior French diplomat said after the meeting with European finance and development ministers.
”What worries us is that he speaks all the time of economic development when there’s more to development than the economy,” Armand de Deckers, the Belgian Development Minister, said — but he confirmed that the Europeans, who command 30% of the votes on the bank’s executive board, will vote for Wolfowitz on Thursday.
Charities and aid organisations accused European leaders of rolling over under Wolfowitz’s charm offensive.
Louise Hilditch, of ActionAid International, said: ”He’s picked up the 10 most commonly used phrases in the development community and they, the ministers, say, ‘That’s fine, he’s with us.’ It’s deeply shocking.”
Max Lawson, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam International, said: ”If anyone could have stopped it months ago, it was [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair — who knew then, long before he told his own Cabinet.”
Wolfowitz constantly underscored his commitment to the bank’s ”noble” mission of fighting world poverty.
”I understand I am, to put it mildly, a controversial figure,” he said. ”But I hope, when people get to know me, they will understand I really do believe deeply in the bank’s mission.”
De Deckers said he found Wolfowitz ”modest and prudent; not at all arrogant”.
Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul, the German Development Minister and an initial critic, said: ”This is a new beginning for him, and we judge him on what he said today.”
Wolfowitz acknowledged the case for more aid spending, but he did not endorse the call by a United Nations commission for it to be doubled from the current $60-billion to $120-billion (compared with $1-trillion on arms and $300-billion on farming subsidies).
”It’s not just the material side of life, but peace and freedom are also enhanced when people enjoy the benefits of prosperity and, with that, security,” Wolfowitz said. — Guardian Unlimited Â