Updates on the European Investment Bank

Preliminary comments on the Nenskra Environmental Impact Assessment and its consultation process

Following an on-site visit in the Upper Svaneti region in Georgia, these comments find substantial weaknesses in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Nenskra hydropower plant, in particular with regards to the engagement and consultation of local communities. See also the comments on the final Nenskra EIA report.

Follow-up letter: Stakeholders Workshop on public consultation results of 2nd PCI proposed lists

European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI): Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth – recommendations for the Delegated Act establishing a scoreboard of indicators

Sustainability of European Structural and Investment Funds: Implementation principles and case studies on projects selection criteria for energy, environment and resource use

European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) represent significant investments in the EU’s physical infrastructure and the development of human potential, helping to increase the continent’s economic, social and territorial cohesion, including the environmental integrity of its natural environment. This briefing gives an overview of the legal background and the guiding principles for applying project selection criteria during the implementation phase of EU funds, illustrated by a number of case studies and examples from different countries.

After Slovenia’s Sostanj coal power plant debacle, is any bank going to finance Croatia’s Plomin C?

Slovenia’s newly built Sostanj 6 is expected to generate losses of around EUR 200 million over the next 3-4 years. Given that Croatia’s Plomin C project shares some of Sostanj 6’s features could Croatia be about to repeat its neighbour’s mistakes?

Italian mayor stands up against EU priority gas pipeline

Local opposition against the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP) is growing as an Italian mayor made clear in an open letter to the European Commission and European public banks.

Will energy efficiency be sidelined in the Energy Union’s implementation?

EU energy ministers are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the implementation of the Energy Union. Looking at what has been discussed so far, the strategy may not prioritise energy efficiency enough to help Europe become climate-friendly.

Transforming development finance? Europe’s multilateral lenders fail on aid transparency

The recently published 2015 Aid Transparency Review concludes that the European Union is off track from meeting its aid transparency commitments. Europe’s two multilateral development banks are indicative of the altogether rather disappointing outcome.

European Fund for Strategic Investments: Legal requirements to ensure additionality and added-value of EFSI operations

The first four projects that the European Investment Bank announced for financing under President Juncker’s EUR 315 billion investment initiative, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), reveal the structural inconsistencies of both the EFSI legal set-up and the EIB procedures themselves. For the time being there is no genuine guarantee about the additionality of EFSI financing and added-value to EU’s long-term economic development objectives, in particular the multiple dividends of a decarbonised and decentralised energy system with substantial energy savings at its heart.

Parliament warns of risky financing, demands more accountability at Europe’s bank

In its annual resolution on the European Investment Bank, Members of the European Parliament have criticised the bank’s Project Bond Initiative, warning that the risk-sharing instrument bears similarities to those proposed under the Juncker Investment Plan.