The Netherlands said on Sunday it would have liked a wider field of candidates to head the World Bank but it would review the sole U.S. nominee, Paul Wolfowitz, on his merits. Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm said the U.S. deputy secretary of defense's role as a leading campaigner for the 2003 invasion of Iraq was no reason for reservations as far as the Netherlands was concerned. "It is always elegant to have more than one candidate," Zalm told reporters on arrival for a meeting with European Union finance chiefs. "We now have to judge if he is a capable man." Wolfowitz's nomination shocked many Europeans who know him only as an advocate of using U.S. military power unilaterally in Iraq. No European government has spoken out openly against the choice but diplomats say many are uneasy, especially after the appointment of another hawk, former under secretary of state John Bolton, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. But Zalm said he had no such qualms when asked whether Wolfowitz's record on Iraq was a problem. "No, that is not a reservation for us," he said. The Netherlands supported the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein which several leading European nations and a big majority of European voters opposed. --More 1833 Local Time 1533 GMT
