For media inquiries and e-mail subscription to Bankwatch’s press releases, please contact our media officer:
Ido Liven
e-mail: ido.liven@bankwatch.org
Tel.: +48 22 892 00 86
skype: ido.bwn
Browse our press releases below
Bar’s battle: Montenegrin town rising against LNG project
Blog entry | 5 March, 2024Plans to build a fossil gas import terminal on Montenegro’s coast, with backing from the European Commission, endanger the country’s fossil fuel phaseout. Growing local opposition to the project also underlines poor public participation in the process.
Read moreSoft landing: New high-level EIB ‘revolving door’ revelations suggest systemic issue persists
Blog entry | 1 March, 2024Alarming new Politico report uncovers ‘revolving doors’ in the EIB’s highest echelons linked to the controversial expansion of the Budapest airport.
Read moreEnvironmental groups urge European Commission to speed up nature safeguards in the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova
Press release | 23 February, 2024The EU must accelerate plans to strengthen nature protection rules for energy infrastructure development under the Energy Community Treaty (1), 36 civil society organisations today urged the EU Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, in a joint letter.
Read moreHalfway there but facing a mid-life crisis: why the EU’s recovery fund is failing to deliver
Press release | 21 February, 2024The European Commission’s mid-term evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, published today, delivers an overly positive assessment. According to CEE Bankwatch Network, the EU’s landmark fund, which was expected to bring about a ‘green recovery’, still faces numerous implementation challenges.
Read moreInternational groups stand in solidarity with Armenian environmental and human rights defenders facing defamation and criminalisation
Press release | 20 February, 2024In recent months, Armenian human rights and environmental defenders and organisations have been facing defamatory attacks in local media. They are increasingly being targeted through defamation, smear campaigns, intimidation and criminalisation for their peaceful, legitimate human rights work.
Read moreKyrgyzstan’s crackdown on civil society: Are international development banks doing enough?
Blog entry | 20 February, 2024Kyrgyzstan is one of the few countries in Central Asia with an active and vibrant civil society, represented by strong human right defenders and active environmental and social issue groups. Last year, however, the Kyrgyz government proposed two repressive laws on non-governmental organisations and the media, which represent a major setback for the country’s democratic future.
Read moreBosnia and Herzegovina: Corridor Vc motorway south of Mostar needs rerouting to meet EBRD and EU standards
Press release | 16 February, 2024A European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) compliance review has vindicated Mostar complainants affected by the Corridor Vc in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now the Federation of BIH government, with support from the EU and European public banks, must ensure effective remedy.
Read moreNew study offers reality check on fossil gas in North Macedonia
Blog entry | 30 January, 2024North Macedonia has ever-more-ambitious plans to increase the use of fossil gas. But these were developed before the recent energy crisis. In addition to the climate havoc, import dependence and fossil-fuel lock-in wrought by gas, a new study shows that pipeline construction costs have increased, high household gasification rates are unlikely, and significant household solar, heat pumps or retrofits could be financed instead.
Read moreWhy Samarkand’s Green City Action Plan alone is not enough
Blog entry | 25 January, 2024Samarkand is the first city in Uzbekistan to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Green Cities programme. Preparations for a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) have already begun, with stakeholder engagement workshops now underway. However, Samarkand residents are concerned that a strategic general urban plan has not been put in place to ensure the GCAP recommendations are implemented.
Read moreBitola’s heating future: a pipeline to nowhere or solar solutions?
Blog entry | 22 December, 2023Bitola in North Macedonia is currently pursuing a decades-old district heating plan connected to the nearby coal power plant – which will, however, close in a few years. But better alternatives exist, as discussed at a recent event in the city, and young people, especially those involved in information sciences and technology, should play a key role in moving them forward.
Read more