FT.com / International Economy /
Most of the EU cast miss Wolfowitz 'audition'
By Raphael Minder in Brussels
Published: March 30 2005 19:18 | Last updated: March 30 2005 19:18
Paul Wolfowitz, the US nominee to head the World Bank, on Wednesday
gave what one minister described as "a positive signal" by making a
flying visit to Brussels to help alleviate European concerns about
his appointment.
However, as he boarded his United Airlines flight back to Washington
just five hours after landing, Mr Wolfowitz might not have felt so
positive about the European turnout.
Only seven out of the 25 European Union member states were
represented by a minister or secretary of state at Wednesday's
meeting. This was in spite of the fact that EU finance ministers had
insisted on holding such an audition before Mr Wolfowitz's expected
election as World Bank president in Washington on Thursday.
In the end, several countries sent their Brussels-based ambassadors
to what was billed as an informal meeting of EU governors of the
World Bank. France, which is trying to create a new number-two post
at the World Bank, sent its treasury director. Only two of the big EU
countries, Germany and Britain, managed a minister, along with the
smaller nations Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and
Belgium.
"There were some absentees but I don't think that lowered the quality
of the debate with Mr Wolfowitz," said Armand De Decker, the Belgian
development minister. "Having said that, it is true that people could
probably have found a way to be there."
EU officials blamed the fact that the meeting had to be scheduled at
short notice, on the heels of the Easter weekend, while many
ministers were still on holiday or otherwise engaged.
Nonetheless, one official described the poor turnout as "a fiasco"
and "truly humiliating considering that we [the EU] supposely had
serious concerns that we really needed to discuss with him and that,
perhaps against expectations, he did bother to show up".
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