أرشيف موقع العهد الإخباري من 1999-2018
ارشيف من : 2005-2008
EU Urges Wolfowitz to Resign
member of the Bush government, has already faced calls to give up his post after revelations that he approved a promotion and pay raise for his bank-employee girlfriend before she was assigned to work at the US State Department.
Lawmakers asked EU leaders to press the White House over the subject at an EU-US summit in Washington on Monday.
They voted 333-251 with 31 abstentions to include a paragraph in a resolution on transatlantic relations calling on Germany, holder of the 27-nation bloc`s rotating presidency, and the US to ask Wolfowitz to stand down.
They should "signal to the president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, that his withdrawal from the post would be a welcome step towards preventing the bank`s anti-corruption policy from being undermined", the paragraph said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are attending the summit with President Bush, who nominated Wolfowitz for the World Bank job in early 2005.
The full EU resolution was passed by the parliament, the only EU institution that is directly elected by its citizens.
The call by the EU assembly comes as a special World Bank committee examines whether Wolfowitz abused his position or committed ethical lapses as it looks at the promotion of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.
Wolfowitz, a former US deputy defense secretary who helped plan the US invasion of Iraq, has apologized for his handling of Riza`s promotion and pledged to make changes to his management.
In Washington, the White House reiterated its support for Wolfowitz, despite the intensifying calls for his resignation.
Asked for a response to the EU lawmakers` resolution, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: "We continue to support President Wolfowitz."