Campaign update: Georgian mountain communities consider restoring long abandoned tradition to tackle threats to their land
Blog entry | 29 June, 2016With hydropower and mining projects encroaching on their lands and livelihoods, Svan communities in Georgia’s northwest consider convening in an ancestral assembly to discuss their course of action.
Read moreNew damage to hydropower project a bleak reminder of development bank missteps in Georgia
Blog entry | 27 June, 2016On June 23 mudflows from the Devdoraki glacier again hit the Dariali gorge and washed away a road and infrastructure connected to two hydropower projects planned in the north of Georgia. The destruction included the water intake for the 19 megawatt Larsi hydropower plant and the derivation pipes for the Dariali hydropower plant.
Read moreSubmission to European Court of Justice: Request to release documents on European Commission decision on Euratom loan for Ukraine
Publication | 16 June, 2016Earlier in 2016, Bankwatch approached the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, and made a request for documents related to the EUR 300 million Euratom loan for Ukraine’s nuclear safety upgrade programme. Specifically, we asked for the evidence used by the Commission in making the first EUR 100 million disbursement from the loan.
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Financial trouble of Ukraine’s nuclear operator calls Europe’s financial support into question
Blog entry | 6 June, 2016Energoatom is currently unable to serve loans from European institutions. Even though a European Commission study assessed the company’s credit worthiness, Ukrainian taxpayers now have to pay back part of the loans.
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Eight arrested in protest against Georgian dam
Blog entry | 24 May, 2016Protests against large dams in Georgia’s Svaneti mountains have led to confrontations with police. Locals are losing patience over the protracted consultation process on the project.
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Happy birthday, Khadija!
Blog entry | 24 May, 2016A graffiti in Warsaw marks the upcoming birthday of imprisoned Azeri journalist Khadija Ismayilova.
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Time for Europe to stop supporting Ukraine’s risky nuclear power sector
Blog entry | 18 May, 2016Three decades after Chernobyl, nuclear power remains a mainstay of Ukrainian energy supply. Despite persistent safety problems, the Ukrainian government has approved lifetime extensions for four of its 15 nuclear units since 2010, and two more could be greenlighted later this year. What is more, Ukraine’s nuclear sector survives in part thanks to European support. The EU needs to stop supporting Kiev’s risky nuclear energy programme.
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No security for Europe from the Southern Gas Corridor
Blog entry | 16 May, 2016With an ownership structure heavily influenced by Azerbaijan, the European Commission’s flagship energy project may end up being a costly piece of infrastructure that does not increase Europe’s energy security but offers a tool for political leverage to the authoritarian Aliyev regime.
Read moreOhrid – Peshtani expressway project, Macedonia
Publication | 11 May, 2016The Ohrid-Peshtani expressway project – financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development via a EUR 160 million loan for the National Roads Programme – involves the construction of a new section on the A3 express to the Albanian border. The new 12.5 kilometre section is planned to pass through the Galicica national park – a rare and important natural site with abundant biodiversity, that was listed as an emerald site (a future Natura 2000 site) and was designated in 2014 part of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
Read moreThe problems with industrial chicken producer MHP’s expansion in Ukraine
Publication | 11 May, 2016MHP is at the centre of concern for local communities and civil society organisations in Ukraine, because of the way the company engages stakeholders, acquires land, and impacts the environment, water and the local economic development. Since 2010 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved three loans for MHP, totalling USD 205 million. Whether or not the company is in compliance with Ukrainian law, local people think they are not adequately protected and do not have an equal voice against a large corporation if it decides to begin construction.
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