Georgia swept by protests against EBRD-backed hydropower
Publication | 11 May, 2016Protests have in recent weeks broken out across rural Georgia after construction resumed on several large hydropower projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Demonstrators have complained that the projects were repeatedly decided behind closed doors, and that poor assessments of the social and environmental consequences mean their livelihoods are under threat.
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Update on resettlements at Kolubara mine and other EPS operations
Publication | 11 May, 2016In October 2015 the independent Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development found that the bank breached its environmental and social policy with regards to safeguarding the rights of communities impacted by mining operations of the Serbian state energy company EPS.
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For European public finance, where will all roads lead from Paris?
Blog entry | 22 April, 2016Signing the Paris Agreement is an important step in Europe’s contribution to the global effort to tackle the climate crisis. But funding this commitment necessarily passes through the public coffers. To kick-start the much-needed energy transition– by swiftly cutting emissions to reach the global carbon neutrality the Paris Agreement prescribes for the second half of this century –a change of paradigm in public investments in energy infrastructure is needed.
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Europe’s Keystone XL: Planned gas pipeline is reckless
Blog entry | 15 April, 2016The Southern Gas Corridor risks locking in higher fossil fuel dependence and wasting colossal amounts of public money.
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Aid Transparency Index: improvements for Europe’s multilateral development banks but still a long way to go
Blog entry | 13 April, 2016As the 2016 Aid Transparency Review shows some improvement for the two main European lenders, they are still far from reaching satisfying transparency standards.
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Lost in transition: Far-reaching changes needed as European bank marks 25 years
Press release | 11 April, 2016On April 15, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will be marking its 25th anniversary. Reflecting on two decades of monitoring the EBRD’s policies and projects, a new report from CEE Bankwatch Network raises concerns about a growing gap between the bank’s operations and its mandate.
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Ukraine needs European values and Europe’s solidarity
Blog entry | 4 April, 2016Ahead of a referendum in the Netherlands on the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, Olexi Pasyuk from the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine discusses the agreement’s importance for Ukraine’s civil society and why Europe must still improve how it engages with the country.
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Six arrested in suspected corruption around EBRD-financed Zagreb wastewater PPP
Blog entry | 29 March, 2016The Zagreb wastewater plant public-private partnership (PPP), financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has for years been highlighted by Bankwatch and its member group Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia as a harmful project allowing the private sector enormous profits at the expense of the City of Zagreb and the public.
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Tensions are rising over hydropower and the lack of participation in Georgia’s mountains
Blog entry | 15 March, 2016The mistrust and frustration of communities in the mountains of north-western Georgia is deepening over make-shift consultations on large dam constructions.
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United Nations report highlights risks and failures of public-private partnerships
Blog entry | 14 March, 2016A United Nations study finds that public-private partnerships involve substantial risks for the public sector and have often failed to yield ‘value for money’.
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