President George Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz, number two at the Pentagon, to take over at the World Bank.
The announcement yesterday received a cool reception in some quarters in Europe where Mr Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the US-led invasion of Iraq and a leading neo-conservative in the Bush administration, is regarded in liberal circles with a mixture of disdain and contempt.
The World Bank, which is the world's main development financing institution, provided just over $20 billion for 245 projects in developing countries last year. It describes its mission as "to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world . . . [by providing] loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge-sharing services to low and middle-income countries to reduce poverty".
At one stage, Bono was being canvassed in the US as a suitable choice to take over from the retiring president of the bank, James Wolfensohn. But yesterday, President Bush announced Mr Wolfowitz was his candidate and that he had begun lobbying other leaders for their support.
The president of the bank has to be approved by the 24-member Board of Executive Directors, who last night began consulting the bank's 184 member countries.
"Paul will be a strong president of the World Bank," Mr Bush said at a White House press conference. "I've said he's a man of good experiences. He helped manage a large organisation. The World Bank is a large organisation; the Pentagon is a large organisation - he's been involved in the management of that organisation.
"He's a skilled diplomat, worked at the State Department in high positions. He was ambassador to Indonesia where he did a very good job representing our country. And Paul is committed to development. He's a compassionate, decent man who will do a fine job in the World Bank."
The reaction in continental Europe was somewhat less effusive. "The enthusiasm in old Europe is not exactly overwhelming," said Germany's development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.
"It's a proposal," said French foreign minister Michel Barnier. "We shall examine it in the context of the personality of the person. . . and perhaps in view of other candidates."
Handelsblatt, Germany's daily financial newspaper, commented: "To put it mildly, Bush does not seem to care about the reaction in the rest of the world . . . many will see this as pure provocation."