Kyrgyzstan: Parliament Talks Trouble for Largest Mine
eurasia.net | June 24, 2012Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor gold mine is responsible for some 12 percent of the country’s GDP. Nevertheless, or perhaps for that reason, politicians can’t seem to keep their hands off it.
EIB in the spotlight, but not the answer to the eurozone’s woes
European Voice | June 14, 2012EIB prepares to take on a greater role.
Overpriced and underwritten – The hidden costs of Public-Private-Partnerships
Tackle Tax Havens blog | June 13, 2012A phenomenon that has become quite fashionable over the last decade or so among governments is the Public-Private-Partnership, or PPP. The UK started to introduce this model in the mid-1990s, and it is also a favoured option in Spain and Hungary. One of the many dangers is that it allows private companies who enter into partnership with government to funnel the profits into tax havens.
Money in the bank? In a new region, EBRD told to enter with care
Egypt Independent | June 7, 2012http://www.egyptindependent.com/weeklyedition/2012/jun/07
Germany is holding Greece to ransom
New Europe | June 4, 2012Bloomberg, not exactly a Bolshevik press agency, recently highlighted why we should have zero sympathy for the bankers of Frankfurt and Berlin. Its editors cited estimates that Germany took more than 284 billion euros from other countries in the single currency bloc between 2009 and the end of last year. Greece has so far received 340 billion euros in loans as a response to the financial crisis; just 15 billion euros of that sum came directly from Germany.
Cutting energy use in Europe’s old building stock: Mission impossible?
EurActiv | June 4, 2012http://www.euractiv.com/energy-efficiency/cutting-energy-use-europes-old-b-linksdossier-512025
Parliament: do not let Poland hijack green agenda
EuObserver | June 1, 2012Warsaw’s latest battle against efforts to ‘green’ Europe’s economy is being played out in the European Parliament’s regional affairs committee. Polish-designed technical texts could kill the environment-friendly criteria attached to the next €1 trillion EU budget.
EBRD refutes claim it will fund Ukrainian reactor life extensions
Platts | May 31, 2012The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has rejected claims by an anti-nuclear group that a loan it is considering together with Euratom for Ukraine’s nuclear sector will be used to extend the operating lives of the country’s Soviet-era reactors.
Polish Power-Station Free Carbon Bid Breaks Law:Greenpeace
Bloomberg | May 31, 2012Poland broke European Union law when unbuilt power stations were permitted to apply for free carbon allowances last year, Greenpeace and three other climate charities said.
EBRD Expansion to Tunisia Brings New Focus on Private Sector
Tunisia Live | May 25, 2012With its sights set on Tunisia and other countries in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) declared at a recent summit in London that it is breaking away from the free-market approach it employed to shore up the economies of Eastern European states in the post-Cold War period.
