Is the Latvian success story over? Good public participation practices in EU funds planning in Latvia turns sour
Blog entry | 8 July, 2013So far the planning for Latvia’s use of the EU funds for the 2014-2020 period has been a reasonably positive experience from a partnership perspective. Yet the process that has, until recently, been notable for its transparency and high level of public participation is now in danger of being derailed.
Read moreEU budget: green jobs to be found amidst disappointing deal
Press release | 3 July, 2013Brussels, July 3, 2013 – Following today’s approval by the European Parliament of Europe’s €960 billion budget for 2014-2020, Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe are calling on individual member states to make the most of a disappointing deal by respecting green spending commitments – thereby boosting green jobs and truly sustainable investments.
Read more
As Croatia accedes to the EU, questions remain over whether EU billions can succeed for Croats
Blog entry | 1 July, 2013Croatia’s new Law on Strategic Investments does not bode well for the sustainable use of EU funds in Croatia now that the country has become an EU member state.
Read more
Green agriculture spending culled in Estonia – NGOs demand proper use of future EU money
Blog entry | 26 June, 2013While the EU’s future common agricultural policy is taking shape in Brussels, it’s not just there that major agri-business interests are flexing their muscles to take the ‘green-ness’ out of EU agricultural spending.
Read more
A tale of neglect: Energy finance figures from the Western Balkans
Blog entry | 25 June, 2013The neglect by international financial institutions of the Western Balkans sustainable energy potential will cost the region’s public heavily for years to come. Figures collected in a new study illustrate how the different international lenders perform in the region.
Read more
EU funds in people’s hands. When small things make a difference.
Blog entry | 17 June, 2013A Croation winner of Bankwatch’s Better Ideas contest for sustainable EU Funds has just begun implementing their project. The positive responses from their community and the successful start illustrate that “small is beautiful” can also apply to Cohesion Policy.
Read more
Energy efficiency becoming more central to future EU spending in the Czech Republic – thanks to NGO calls
Blog entry | 21 May, 2013Energy efficiency has now become a priority for EU funding in the Czech Republic for the forthcoming 2014-2020 budgetary period.
Read moreRegional funding negotiations – Green groups warn against last minute reintroduction of fossil fuel subsidies
Press release | 16 May, 2013With the final negotiations aimed at sealing agreement on the EU budget for 2014-20 now underway, environment NGOs are warning that a last minute amendment aimed at permitting EU subsidies for fossil fuels that are devastating for the climate must be rejected by negotiators of the future EU Cohesion Policy’s regional development funds.
Read moreNew report: Funding sustainable development in European regions – recommendations for the programming of EU funds in 10 CEE Countries
Press release | 4 April, 2013Today, CEE Bankwatch Network is launching a compilation of position papers which describe in detail how environmental NGOs across Central and Eastern Europe see the contribution of the next EU Budget (post 2014) to overcoming Europe’s high energy and material consumption and to protecting our nature.
Read moreNew CEE Bankwatch Network Study: “No Time to Waste: Cohesion Funds programming for a resource-efficient Europe”
Press release | 27 March, 2013Find the study here >> The EU Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiative, the strategic framework setting out how the waste sector should look like in Europe by 2020, envisages that by the end of this decade waste in Europe will be managed as a resource we have to care for, hence landfilling has to be eliminated, incineration limited to non recyclable materials, and recycling turned into a truly economically viable option.
Read more
