Sostanj lignite plant: A mistake not to be repeated
Press release | 2 December, 2014Ljubljana — A new briefing by Slovenian NGO Focus shows how misguided assessments of future viability and corruption led to TES6 lignite unit costing more than double the estimated amount, bringing annual losses of tens of millions of euros, and creating only a fraction of the number of jobs promised.
Read moreBankwatch Mail 61
Publication | 2 December, 2014The European Investment Bank has been at the heart of the EU’s Project Bonds Initiative – its inception and its so far troubled pilot phase. Bankwatch Mail 61 examines the infrastructure challenges facing us in Europe and beyond, questions whether mechanisms such as the European project bonds are an appropriate way to tap into money in financial markets, and provides an overview of the newly launched Juncker investment package, featuring another pivotal role for the EIB in the latest high-level effort to kick-start the European economy.
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Mind the infrastructure gap
Publication | 2 December, 2014A case of outrageous bad fortune, or a portent of things to come? The one thing that can be stated with any certainty about the collapsed Castor project, the underground gas storage plant in Vinaròs, Spain that was selected in 2013 as the lead-out project for the EU’s Project Bond Initiative (PBI), is that the Spanish government has put its citizens on the hook to cover a compensation package of EUR 1.35 billion to ESCAL UGS, the project promoter.
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EIB role in Juncker investment package draws more questions than answers for now
Publication | 2 December, 2014Here we go again. Having been called upon to ramp up its investments in 2009 and 2010 as part of Europe’s initial financial crisis fire-fighting, and then in 2012 been a central cog in the EU’s ambitious but ultimately lacklustre ‘Growth Compact’, the European Investment Bank now finds itself at the heart of new European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s three-year drive to boost investment in Europe, as unveiled on November 26.
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Castor project sends Project Bonds Initiative shockwaves, taxpayers hit worst
Publication | 2 December, 2014In July 2013, the much-hyped joint European commission/EIB ‘Project Bond Initiative’ (PBI) had scarcely got off the ground – in its pilot phase at least – when unusual natural events took over. Work at the EUR 1.7 billion Castor underground gas storage plant off the coast of Valencia commenced in summer 2013. But by mid-September the Spanish government was forced to halt work at the plant after 220 mini earthquakes in the area were detected in less than a month. Local residents reported the tremors following injections of natural gas to prepare Castor for operations. Subsequent research has found that the gas injection provoked 1,000 earthquakes in the region.
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European Ombudsman hammers EIB over Bosnian bridge maladministration
Publication | 2 December, 2014An unprecedented ruling and serious tough talking emanated from the European Ombudsman at the end of October following an investigation into the EIB’s involvement with a bridge construction project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Describing the approach taken by the EIB in the case as “wholly unacceptable”, the Ombudsman’s conclusion pulled no punches in asserting that the bank’s “maladministration risks putting into question the European Union’s commitment to strengthening the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
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EIB and EBRD transparency nosedive needs fixing – and fast
Publication | 2 December, 2014Operational transparency standards at the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development continue to deteriorate, according to the 2014 Aid Transparency Index (ATI) published in October by aid watchdog Publish What You Fund (PWYF).
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EBRD-EIB role in Slovak private equity gas debacle questioned
Publication | 2 December, 2014The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revealed, in a letter of late October to Bankwatch’s Slovak member group Friends of the Earth-CEPA, that the EnerCap Power Fund, a private equity investor, has pulled out of the controversial COGEN gas power plant being developed in the northern Slovakian town of Považský Chlmec.
Read moreJuncker investment package shifts risk from private investors to EU taxpayers
Press release | 26 November, 2014Brussels – Today European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will present his widely anticipated 300 billion euro investment package aimed at stimulating growth in the European economy. Central to the InvestEU programme is a 21 billion euro allocation for the newly-created Euopean Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) that has to leverage 315 billion euro from private investors, or 15 times the amount of the fund.
Read moreThe Great Rush – The European Union’s responsibility in natural resources grabbing
Publication | 31 October, 2014Land, forests, water and raw materials are valuable resources that increasingly interest the major players of the economy of our planet. This report collects 16 case studies from around the world in order to better understand the impacts of natural resource grabbing on the local communities, clarify the responsibilities of the European Union and, in conclusion, examine actions to be undertaken to invert this phenomenon.
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