seat board of the Washington-based institution which represents the 184 member states. The EU's executive, the European Commmission, has invited Wolfowitz to present his views on development and the role of the bank, which provides soft loans, policy advice and technical assistance to reduce poverty in low and middle-income countries. Diplomats say the Europeans are unlikely to oppose Wolfowitz at a time when they are seeking to heal rifts with the administration of President George W. Bush. "I think there's an informal understanding that the proposal will come from the Americans now and we can agree on that," Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser told reporters. "I think Wolfowitz was obviously well considered in the United States. He is obviously the candidate of President Bush. I am curious about the debate we will have today but I think he would be a good candidate." Although his candidacy is controversial, Wolfowitz's approval by the bank's board, which operates by consensus, is widely seen as a foregone conclusion. The United States has the largest voting share on the board with 17 percent although EU countries combined have 30 percent. Relations between the two were strained on Friday when Washington broke off talks with the EU over subsidies to civil aircraft makers, accusing Brussels of reneging on the goal of ending state aid to rivals Airbus and Boeing. There was no immediate sign that the trade spat would affect the World Bank appointment. --SP 1833 Local Time 1533 GMT
