Press releases

Brussels – On Monday night a video was projected on the building of the European Parliament which denounced the unsustainable energy portfolio of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The 1 minute video concluded with: “Make the EIB chose a brighter future before increasing its capital”, a message for EIB governors which gather Tuesday 15 May in Brussels during the bank’s Annual General Meeting. The main topic will be a possible capital increase of the EIB.

Brussels – In a draft mining strategy published yesterday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) made it clear that it intends to continue investing in the coal sector for years to come.(1) Supporting the coal sector with European public money is unacceptable, according to CEE Bankwatch Network, as it undermines the EU’s climate policy and the transition to a decarbonised European economy that the EU and the EBRD both claim to support.(2)

Paris, 18 April 2012 -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that it is freezing the disbursement of the promised EUR 100 million loan for the construction of a new lignite block at thermal power plant TES 6 in Šoštanj, Slovenia. The decision by the EBRD comes after a group of Slovenian and international NGOs approached the EBRD asking for the bank to halt the loan until corruption allegations are investigated.(1)

With the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the process of selecting a new president [1] as the term of current office holder Thomas Mirow approaches its end, CEE Bankwatch Network, an NGO that has been monitoring the EBRD for over a decade, makes a call on the bank’s shareholders and new president to reassess some of its past – faulty – approaches: