Paul Wolfowitz, the embattled president of the World Bank, faced another day of pointed criticism over how his girlfriend came to be given a promotion and awarded large salary increases by the World Bank after he was appointed to head the institution in 2005.
Britain's development minister Hilary Benn made the most blunt remarks to date aimed at Wolfowitz's handling of the affair, declaring that it had "damaged the bank," in a statement.
Similar statements from other European ministers suggest that Wolfowitz remains in danger of losing his job as head of the world's most important multilateral development agency, as editorials in the Financial Times, Le Monde and The Times all called on Wolfowitz to step down.
Update: further editorials appeared calling for Wolfowitz's resignation, including one in the International Herald Tribune, which concludes: "There is no way Wolfowitz can recover his credibility and continue to be effective at the bank." Investor's Business Daily, the US financial newspaper, argued: "Wolfowitz should resign as soon as possible to right as much as he can of the mess he's made."
"While this whole business has damaged the Bank and should not have happened, we should respect the board's process. I am sure these views will be shared by other governors who will also be considering their responses," said Benn, who acts as the UK's bank governor, when he arrived in Washington today for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.
Chancellor Gordon Brown offered no support for Wolfowitz, telling a press conference: "Having published the facts themselves, the board obviously has to complete its work. And I think we have got to respect the board process."
French and German ministers also made veiled criticisms - an indication that support for Wolfowitz may be ebbing. French finance minister Thierry Breton said the World Bank is "an institution whose governance and ethics must obviously be impeccable," while Germany's development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, told Reuters on Saturday: "[Wolfowitz] himself has to decide whether he still has the credibility to represent the position of the World Bank."
The Los Angeles Times reported that "European governments had decided to cut off contributions to the bank's loan funds if Wolfowitz did not resign." The paper also reported comments from US officials, suggesting the situation remained uncertain. "I believe [the US] could block an effort to remove Wolfowitz. That said, if there were an overwhelming mood against him, he would cease trying to stay," it quoted a former Treasury department official as saying.
On his way to attend the spring meeting of the World Bank on Saturday, Wolfowitz was greeted by his name in frontpage headlines in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Financial Times, with the FT headlining the splash in its US edition: "Wolfowitz future hangs in the balance".
Meanwhile Le Monde weighed in with an editorial calling for Wolfowitz's resignation, Le depart de Wolfowitz, while The Times in London also joined the chorus calling for his departure, saying in a leader: "To safeguard the credibility of the reforms for which he fought, Mr Wolfowitz must hold himself to those same standards."
A wrap-up of breaking news and analysis can be found at worldbankpresident.org. An anonymous group of World Bank staff have set up their own blog on the subject: Wolfowitz must resign!.
