Japanese finance minister Koji Omi told US treasury secretary Henry Paulson that “it will be most appropriate that a successor should be selected from the US, which holds world leadership.”
Another quiet knife has been stuck into the gentleman’s agreement which has until now given the U.S. government the right to appoint the World Bank president. The Brazilian government representative at the Bank - Otaviano Canuto - has asked that the process of selecting the new Bank chief be opened up. In a note to colleagues on the board, he said the board should be allowed to chose between more than one candidate, based on merit. The board meets today to consider the process for selecting the new president. more…
Joseph Stiglitz, former World Bank chief economist urged the Financial Services Committee in the US Congress : “The choice of a successor to outgoing bank president Paul Wolfowitz should be open and transparent with the most qualified people available regardless of race, gender or nationality,” more…
President Bush spells it out. “I do think it’d be good to have an American run the bank”. He said this to the BBC in response to questions about whether Tony Blair could get the job. Mr Bush added that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is in charge of the search for Mr Wolfowitz’s successor, and will compile a short list for the president.
Here is an updated list of all candidates mentioned in the press to replace Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank Group. more…
Writing in Kenya’s The Nation, Makau Mutua makes some compelling points. Slamming European hypocrisy, the writer calls for an end to Western control of the World Bank and IMF and a set of internal governance reforms that goes far beyond the leadership selection. more…
A rush of wire service articles from the G8 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Potsdam, Germany confirms that, at least as far as these people are concerned, the U.S. gets to retain its control of the World Bank presidency. And the next nomination, according to Reuters, could happen soon — “early June” is spoken of as the target. more…
The US government, it seems, has three options moving forward: (1) Punish the bank with another controversial and non-consensual choice; (2) Take charge, but behave like an adult, adopting the approach outlined by Voice of Reason; (3) Cede control to an open and transparent selection process.
Can we discount the first option? I’m not sure. People forget how taken aback everyone was by the Wolfowitz nomination. And the American right is now pissed off - with the Bank suddenly jumping into the bad-as-the-United-Nations box.
Three ‘punishment’ names have popped up on National Review’s blog - a clearing house for conservative thought in the US. John Bolton, Rick Santorum and… yes, Donald Rumsfeld. All are unlikely to get the job, but it’s worth remembering that some fingers are itching for the nuclear option.
Disturbing reading from the NYT. The White House and Treasury are moving quickly to find a replacement. Some implications of the article below the fold. [update: Bloomberg chips in from Germany: Germany and Japan back U.S. prerogative. How about they relinquish their control over the IMF and MIGA respectively, as well as refusing to allow Bush to put in another of his cronies] more…
The Board said yesterday: “The Board will start the nomination process for a new president immediately.” This implies that it is open to receive candidates right now.
The UK had already publicly committed itself to pushing for a merit-based appointment process. We’re not seeing any signs of this publicly (their line at the moment is “it’s too early to talk about the next president’, but the statement from the Board above would indicate otherwise). more…
