Comments on draft European Energy Community Strategy – an unsustainable energy future
Publication | 15 October, 2012Neighbouring countries of the EU from the Western Balkans to Ukraine are planning unsustainable energy futures relying on coal and nuclear. The energy strategy of the European Energy Community indicates continued reliance on coal and nuclear energy which could happen with EU support and financing.
Read moreEnvironmentalists, get your keyboards ready: The European Investment Bank asks for inputs on its energy policy
Blog entry | 11 October, 2012With annually more than ten billion euros of investments in the energy sector, the EIB can have a tremendous influence on our energy future. If we want the bank to help us “get it right”, the time for providing inputs is now.
Read moreHow the facts got in the way of a good EBRD Roma headline
Publication | 8 October, 2012This summer’s ‘silly season’ featured a a blog post on the EBRD website replete with the claim that the bank has helped turn Serbia into a “role model for social inclusion of Roma”. This claim immediately rang hollow in light of the ongoing plethora of abuses of Roma rights in Serbia.
Read moreEgypt’s turmoil is a distraction from the west’s economic agenda
Publication | 8 October, 2012The storming of the US embassy in Cairo has diverted attention once again from the real issues facing Egypt. It couldn’t have come at a better time for those who want to convince the Egyptian people to accept an International Monetary Fund loan and other western IFI interventions, and thus extend former president Hosni Mubarak’s liberalisation of the economy.
Read moreHoyer and out: New EIB president muddles through European parliament hearing
Publication | 8 October, 2012With the European Investment Bank having recently postponed the annual face-to-face dialogue with NGOs that the bank’s former president Philippe Maystadt initiated in autumn 2011, it was good to see new EIB president Werner Hoyer being put on the spot in September by MEPs during a hearing at the Europeam parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
Read moreMore questions asked about EBRD and EIB transparency
Publication | 8 October, 2012The European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have been awarded some of the worst transparency scores for international finance institutions in this year’s Aid Transparency Index, published in early October by the campaign group Publish What You Fund.
Read moreEuropean public banks must improve transparency
Press release | 1 October, 2012Brussels – The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) score low on transparency according to the ‘2012 Aid Transparency Index’ [1] published today by the campaign group ‘Publish What You Fund’.
Read moreEBRD should not invest in Polish energy company suspected of corruption, say European NGOs
Press release | 17 September, 2012Warsaw – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering participating in a EUR 772 million loan for a subsidiary of major Polish energy group ENEA, whose management is currently being investigated by authorities because of alleged irregularities in management and misuse of public funds.
Read moreAnother case of alleged corruption in a CEE energy company
Blog entry | 17 September, 2012Alleged corruption at Poland’s second biggest state-owned energy company ENEA S.A. may compromise yet another project financed by European public banks.
Read moreWhat goes around, comes around: Portugal’s debt boomerangs back on public-private partnerships
Blog entry | 10 August, 2012Europe’s anti-crisis measures include efforts to increase private investments in public infrastructure. Yet, a backlash against public-private partnerships in Portugal is a warning against putting too much faith in this approach.
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