Updates on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Civil society concerns about EBRD expansion into North Africa

As a result of the recent revolts in the Southern Mediterranean, the European Commission proposed March 8 that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development be given a leading role in promoting democratisation and development in the region. But NGOs argue that the EBRD’s mandate should not be expanded for the foreseeable future.

Comments to the EC’s plans to increase EIB operations and commence ERBD operations in North Africa

The European Commission’s announced plans to give the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction leading roles in promoting democratisation and development in the Southern Mediterranean region. Counter Balance and Bankwatch are concerned that both institutions first need to demonstrate their ability to bring environmentally sustainable and socially positive development impacts. We also call for an immediate investigation into the EIB financing to the Mediterranean so far, to examine whether corrupted elites have benefited from the bank’s loans.

NGOs call for investigation into EIB financing for the Mediterranean region

Counter Balance and CEE Bankwatch Network are calling for an investigation into the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) financing in the Southern Mediterranean region in the past, before giving the bank a leading role in distributing European financial support for the region.

Bankwatch comments on EBRD country level transition indicators

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s transition indicators for some time already were rather disconnected from the situation in the EBRD’s countries of operation. Our comments are premised on the point that the ultimate goal of transition is not only a market economy, but an environmentally sustainable and socially just one.

EU public funds for “securing” dirty coal and nuclear energy Ukraine transmission lines background paper

Over the past few years, a series of strategies, agreements and loans have brought the EU and Ukraine into closer cooperation on perpetuating nuclear and carbon-intensive energy infrastructure and generation, with international financial institutions (IFIs) brokering the deals.

Comments to draft EBRD country strategy for Ukraine

Tirana Botanical Garden threatened by ring road

Last week, more than 33 Albanian civil society organizations — including Bankwatch’s Albanian partner organisation EDEN — sent an open letter (pdf) to Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, protesting against the potential destruction of the Botanical Garden in Tirana.

Khimki defender Evgenia Chirikova is a woman of courage, literally now

Evgenia Chirikova, the leading figure of the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest has yesterday received the US Woman of Courage Award to honour her relentless efforts to save the Khimki Forest near Moscow from being transformed into a motorway.

Keep European public banks out of Mediterranean region, say NGOs

This week, EU leaders are meeting to agree on a common response to events in the Mediterranean. A coalition of Western and Eastern European NGOs issues a serious warning that the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are not the right institutions to financially support the transition in the Middle East and North Africa.

Bankwatch contribution to the public consultation process regarding the external dimension of the EU energy policy

The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) strategy paper 2007-2013 for the eastern neighbourhood region involves contradictory strategic objectives. The first of these is sustainable development and environmental protection, which underpins all EU legislation and policies. However, the second priority, the need to ensure the diversification and security of energy supplies to the EU, emphasises the need for further extraction and transportation of the Caspian Seas oil and gas resources to Europe, and thus prioritises it over the development of an environmentally friendly energy sector within the region.