Europe hints Wolfowitz should go
European governments have indicated that they want Paul Wolfowitz to step down as World Bank president following revelations that he misused his position by ordering a pay increase and promotion for his girlfriend.

Although Wolfowitz has admitted that it was a mistake to demand special treatment for his girlfriend Shaha Riza, a World Bank official from the institution’s head of human resources, his apology has not been sufficient to dampen tempers among its staff.

Some European governments belonging to the 185-country institution have suggested that Wolfowitz has a tarnished reputation, especially as he has made the fight against corruption a central theme of his presidency. These include Germany, the current holder of the Union’s rotating presidency. “For me the most important thing is that the moral authority and the financial stability of the World Bank must not be harmed,” said Heidemarie Wieczoerk-Zeul, the German minister for development. “He himself has to decide whether he still has the credibility to represent the position of the World Bank.”

The Riha scandal overshadowed the annual meeting of the Bank last weekend (14-15 April).

As the former number two in the Pentagon, Wolfowitz was a leading architect of the Iraq war, which has led to over 60,000 civilian deaths. Yet since his controversial nomination to the World Bank post in 2005, he has tried to convey the impression that he is a passionate advocate of poverty reduction, most notably in Africa.

His statements have not been convincing for many critics of the Bank, which allocates some $25 billion in loans and grants each year. Evidence suggests that many of its policies remain inimical to the poor.

Friends of the Earth pointed out, for example, that the Bank invests $2-3 billion per year in energy projects that fuel global warming. Only 9% of its financing for energy during 2005 went to projects which generate from renewable sources.

International scientists warned earlier this month that poor countries are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Meanwhile an anonomous group of World Bank staff have set up their own blog on the issue entitled: Wolfowitz must resign.

Sources:
www.worldbank.org
www.foei.org
www.eurodad.org
www.worldbankpresident.org
www.iraqbodycount.org
www.avaaz.org

Nepal aid must benefit entire country
EU aid to Nepal will be the subject of a seminar in Brussels this Friday (20 April). Titled Looking Beyond Kathmandu: Challenges and Opportunities for Peace-Building from Below, the seminar will take stock of the situation in Nepal following the signature of last November’s peace agreement, ending a decade-long conflict.
The international community has been supportive of the Nepalese peace process, which has led to Maoist insurgents joining the national government and parliament.

Yet anti-poverty activists are concerned that international organisations are overly focused on Kathmandu. As a result, not enough heed is being paid to political issues and socio-economic inequalities outside the capital, even though these were of crucial significance to the conflict. This has been exemplified through recent unrest in the Terai valley. Maoist rebels were also successful in exploiting widespread discontent over rampant poverty to win support from the general population.

Among the speakers at the seminar will be Bijay Raj Gautam, director of the Nepal’s largest human rights group the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) and Renu Rajbhandari, founder of the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC). Representatives of the main EU institutions have also been invited to attend.

For further information, please contact Esther Snabel from ICCO, the Dutch inter-church organization for development cooperation, on +31-6-53-96-7918.

Sources:
www.icco.nl
www.eepa.be

Michel under fire from MEPs
MEPs have protested at the decision by Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, to stand for election in his native Belgium. Josep Borrell, the chairman of the European Parliament’s development committee, has written to Michel, complaining at how he is taking a month off to fight the 10 June general election for the liberal Mouvement Réformateur party.

According to Borrell, the preceding month would be “a key period” for negotiations of the free trade deals which the European Commission is hoping to sign with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc this year.

Borrell also queried why Olli Rehn, the commissioner in charge of the EU’s relations with neighbouring countries, is temporarily taking over Michel’s duties. “In no way do we doubt Mr Rehn’s competence and capacity, but he has his own weighty portfolio and can hardly be expected to become an overnight expert on development and humanitarian aid,” said Borrell.

Michel has defended his decision by arguing that commissioners are also politicians. “This institution [the Commission] is not an administrative secretariat composed of politically asexual personalities,” he said.

Sources:
www.europa.eu
www.europeanvoice.com

Dress colourfully against unfair trade
Demonstrations will take place at various German embassies in Europe this Thursday (19 April) against the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which the EU is negotiating with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

The protests will call on Germany, holder of both the EU and G8 presidencies, to take action against the pressure which the European Commission is putting on ACP governments to sign EPAs this year. They will urge that EPAs must be strictly oriented to reduce poverty, rather than to push trade liberalization.

The Brussels demonstration will take place at Germany’s EU embassy on 8-14 Rue Jacques de Lalaing at 10.00. Participants are asked to dress colorfully and to carry placards saying: ‘Stop Unfair Trade Deals’.

Sources:
www.eepa2007.org
www.11.be
www.cncd.be

EU failing doctors & teachers
Some EU governments are failing to address the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and teachers in poor countries, a new Oxfam study has found. Germany and France are among the countries who do not pay for teachers and health workers in the development aid programmes which they manage, the study says.

Oxfam recommends that 25% of all aid from rich countries should go directly to the health and education budgets of developing ones for six years at least. As salaries for these sectors are barely above subsistence levels, recruitment in them has gone into reverse. More than 2 million teachers and 4 million health care workers are needed, half of them in Africa, Oxfam estimates.

“Today, in too many of the world’s poorest countries, health and education services are dependent on a handful of workers struggling heroically to do their jobs on pitiful wages and in appalling conditions,” said Elizabeth Stuart, a senior policy adviser with Oxfam. “Becoming a doctor, nurse or teacher is like signing a contract with poverty.” Oxfam has also called on the International Monetary Fund to cease insisting that caps should be put on the wage bills for health and education workers in the fiscal policies it promotes in poor countries.

Sources:
www.oxfam.org