Wolfowitz confirmed as next World Bank president

Mr Wolfowitz, who will succeed James Wolfensohn on June 1, was assured of board approval after he won over European diplomats during a five-hour charm offensive in Brussels yesterday.

The Europeans, who hold 30% of the voting shares on the bank's board, could have made life difficult for George Bush's nominee. However, they acquiesced to the nomination at a time when the US and EU are mending fences after the Iraq war.

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Moreover, the EU needs US support for various high-profile international posts.

The EU is pushing Pascal Lamy, its former trade commissioner, for the job of leading the World Trade Organisation, while Britain is believed to be lobbying for Baroness Amos - formerly Labour's leader of the House of Lords - to head the UN development programme.

Nevertheless, Mr Bush's choice of his deputy defence secretary for the world's top development institution has created consternation among development groups.

They see him as an odd selection, because they hold him partly responsible for the postwar chaos in Iraq. Mr Wolfowitz failed to see the need for more US troops to maintain order after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Aid activists fear he will block moves to cancel multilateral debt unless developing countries accept a programme of privatisation and free market measures.

Those willing to give him the benefit of the doubt say there is little evidence that he is a free market ideologue, and argue that it was Paul Bremner, the US administrator, who pushed privatisation in Iraq rather than Mr Wolfowitz himself.

Whatever his merits or flaws, the way in which Mr Wolfowitz's name emerged has sparked renewed criticism of the selection process at multilateral institutions. Critics have been particularly incensed at the lack of transparency, especially because the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund set strong store by openness and good governance.

Atila Roque, the excutive director of ActionAid International USA, said: "The US government and other major World Bank shareholders have been sharply critical of the lack of transparency and accountability in many developing countries. In this context, this secretive leadership selection process is breathtakingly hypocritical."

In keeping with a tradition that dates to the creation of the World Bank 60 years ago, the US - the bank's largest shareholder - gets to appoint one of its own to head the institution. A European, normally leads the Bank's sister organisation, the IMF.

In seeking to win over his critics, Mr Wolfowitz yesterday described himself as a passionate warrior not against dictators, but against poverty. He pointed to his first-hand experience dealing with the World Bank, both as the US ambassador to Indonesia in the 80s and again as an envoy touring Asian countries devastated by December's tsunami.

"Helping people lift themselves out of poverty is truly a noble mission," he said in a statement yesterday. "Nothing is more gratifying than helping people in need."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1449622,00.html