Updates on the European Investment Bank

Bankwatch Mail 8

In this issue: Kyoto in Bonn * Combating poverty in Georgia * Oil revenues for Weapons * Nukes in Ukraine * EIB Info Policy * EBRD – Language Apartheid * PVC ban in Slovakia * Two new World Bank strategies * Yugoslavia Gets USD 1,3 billion

Investment plan for Sostanj lignite power plant TES6 (version 4, unofficial translation)

The new version of the investment programme for a new unit at the Sostanj lignite power plant was prepared by the project promoter after the Slovene government expressed doubts over the economic viability of the investment. All the three previous versions of the document were hidden from the public eye.

18 000 ask Slovenia to adopt clean energy. EBRD and EIB, take a hint.

18 000 people from around the world have asked the Slovene government to adopt a future proof National Energy Plan that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Bankwatch research coordinator Pippa Gallop took part in handing over the list of signatories yesterday and points out that European public banks also need to take the message seriously.

Video: Polish perspectives on the EU presidency

Today Poland takes the helm of the EU presidency, but the country’s recent move to unilaterally block a 25 percent reduction target for EU carbon emissions has solidified expectations that Poland would hinder a more ambitious EU climate policy agenda.

Polish Presidency highlights EU climate paradox

As Poland starts its EU Presidency today, serious doubts loom over its willingness to provide ambitious leadership on EU climate policies. Paradoxically, it is the EU’s own public banks which are sponsoring the country’s unfettered coal industry, the root cause of Polish climate scepticism.

Civil society groups in the Arab region say Western financial aid plan could divert the revolutions’ goals of economic and social justice

Arab civil society and international NGOs are opposing the EU and US backed financial aid package for post-revolutionary countries in their region on the grounds that it could damage the democratic transitions and divert the revolutions’ goals of economic and social justice.

Deja-vu in Belgrade

Bankwatch’s coordinator in Serbia Zvezdan Kalmar finds himself in a situation similar to the one when campaigning on the Gazela bridge project: Roma families live in uncertainty about when they’ll be resettled to make way for road construction, all the while with little influence about how decisions are made.

Letter reiterating Vinci’s failure to respect Global Compact commitments on human rights

Bankwatch and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest wrote to the Global Compact on 28th March 2011 regarding Vinci’s non-compliance with its Global Compact Commitments in relation to the first section of the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway project. Our letter subsequently formed the basis of an enquiry to Vinci by the Business and Human Rights and Human Resource Centre, to which Vinci responded on 26th April 2011. Having carefully reviewed Vinci’s response, we still believe that the company is not in compliance with its Global Compact commitments.

Arab civil society and international groups against diverting the revolutions’ economic and social justice goals through conditionalities imposed by international financial institutions

Police investigates irregularities at TES 6 in Slovenia

Ljubljana, Slovenia — The Slovenian police confirmed June 7 that it was looking into allegations of mismanagement at coal plant Sostanj, including serious questions over the building of new lignite block TES 6.