The Financial Times speculates on possible Wolfowitz' successors.
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Financial Times FT.com
All eyes turn to finding Wolfowitz successor
By Krishna Guha in Washington
Published: May 17 2007 18:52 | Last updated: May 18 2007 09:40
Speculation is mounting as to who the Bush administration will nominate to succeed Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank, even as pressure builds for the US to give up its traditional right to select one of its own citizens as bank chief.
This week 165 of the world’s leading international development experts and representatives of non-governmental organisations said the bank crisis demonstrated the need for fundamental reform of the selection process.
“Paul Wolfowitz’s problems at the World Bank stem in part from a widespread perception that he disproportionately represents US interests rather than objectives that command a global consensus,” they wrote in a public letter.
They said the root cause was the tradition by which the US nominates one of its citizens to be bank president in return for Europe nominating one of its nationals to be managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
“That outdated convention should be abandoned and replaced with selection procedures that reflect two key principles: transparency of process and competence of prospective leadership without regard to national origin,” they said.
There is, however, little sign that the Bush administration is willing to consider any change to the selection process.
Nor are European states pushing it to do so as they want a rapid end to the crisis and are not keen to open up the question of their nomination privilege at the IMF.
Instead, the Bush administration is likely to insist on its right to nominate the next bank chief – someone who would very likely be a US citizen as in the past.
Neither the White House nor US Treasury have disclosed details of a shortlist.
Most experts, though, believe the frontrunners include Bob Zoellick, the former US trade representative and deputy secretary of state who is a proven internationalist, and – on an interim basis – Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Mr Volcker is widely respected, including by rightwing US political opinion, though inside the bank some staff members are suspicious of his involvement in a review of its anti-corruption unit.
Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel, is highly rated. However, some inside the administration still see him as a Clinton administration appointee.
Another option would be to draw from the US Treasury. Bob Kimmit, the deputy Treasury secretary, is seen as a safe pair of hands, while some officials mention Hank Paulson, the Treasury Secretary himself – who would be welcomed by other world leaders but is very unlikely to be interested in the job.
Other long-shot US candidates include Peter McPherson, a former Reagan administration official, and Andrew Natsios, the former head of USAID, the US aid agency. Tony Blair, the outgoing UK prime minister and close Bush ally, has the makings of a strong non-US candidate. But he is believed not to want the position.
A person close to the administration said there is a small chance an angry White House might toy with a “revenge candidate” to confront an over-reaching board and rebellious staff.
But he said the odds are that cool heads will prevail and a sensible candidate will emerge.
Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development, said it would be unacceptable for the US to try to impose a candidate on the basis of an absolute nomination prerogative.
She said she hoped the Bush administration “adopts at least informally a policy of being more transparent and finding a candidate based on merit”.
European countries with strong representation at the board “need to take much more responsibility than they have in the past for scrutinising the candidate, so whoever we end up with arrives with the blessing of legitimacy”, she added.
She noted that almost all senior domestic US appointments needed to be confirmed by the Senate. Ms Birdsall said the US had taken its responsibility to confirm candidates for the IMF seriously and Europe must do the same for the bank, until far-reaching reform could be achieved.
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