German development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul saying “for me the most important thing is that the moral authority and the financial stability of the World Bank must not be harmed”. She does not spell out that this means Wolfowitz must go, but says diplomatically that “he himself has to decide whether he still has the credibility to represent the position of the World Bank”.

Yesterday French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said the World Bank is “an institution whose governance and ethics must obviously be impeccable. I fully trust the governing board to draw the consequences it must draw and I have no further comment.”

Colleagues in DC say that the Nordic governments are clearly against Wolfowitz now and the Brits, too (though with some questions over whether the Blair-Bush ‘special relationship’ might trump everyone else’s views in the end). The Italians are perhaps still in the mood for some compromise or other, while other European governments are playing cards close to their chests.

More and more information is coming to light, however. Not only about Wolfowitz’s role in securing pay increases for his partner. But also about Wolfowitz’s continued efforts to promote US Administration Iraq policy and to appoint to the Bank several senior figures  with track records supporting that policy.

Insights from Eurodad staff and network members, plus analysis submitted by World Bank staff and excerpts from key media articles are being posted multiple times per day on the dedicated blog on the World Bank president scandal www.worldbankpresident.org. Check that site for frequent updates. To take action on the issue, see the on-line activism site www.avaaz.org.

Eurodad urges World Bank member governments to take decisive action and remove Wolfowitz so that we can get back to debating the major development issues that the World Bank deals with.