Civil Society Denounces US Nomination of World Bank President

On March 16th, George W. Bush nominated US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to serve as the future President of the World Bank. Within 30 hours, European heads of state received a multi-country petition signed by more than 1,300 organizations and individuals from 68 countries who denounced the nomination and called on European governments to reject it. The US nomination of Wolfowitz, who is recognized as the key architect of the US invasion, war and occupation of Iraq and a strong proponent of unilateralism in US foreign policy, has elicited a firestorm of protest from development experts and citizens around the world. The civil society petition sent to European heads of state on March 18th warned that his appointment would risk “the Bank becoming seen as a tool of the current controversial US foreign policy, with aid flows becoming more dependent on strict adherence to US Administration priorities.” The petition further denounced “the untransparent and undemocratic process by which one government nominates a single candidate for Bank president” and called on European governments to “take action to reject the current nominee and press for other candidates.” Alex Wilks, coordinator at Eurodad, the network of European development NGOs that organized the […]

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