July 10, 2013 | Read more Brussels, July 10, 2013 – The green potential of a third of Europe’s budget for 2014-2020 has been hollowed-out following a vote in the European Parliament today, according to Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe. The committee for regional development (REGI) has approved proposals to reform EU Structural Funds – money intended to improve the economic well-being of regions – which include a last-minute shift from legally-binding to voluntary environmental spending.
July 10, 2013 | Read more With today’s approval of the watered down proposals to reform EU Structural Funds in the European Parliament’s committee for regional development (see our press release), EU decision makers have taken a step away from ambitious environmental spending in the future Cohesion Policy. At the same time also national level allocation of the 2014-2020 funds is starting to take shape. But efforts to get the funds working sustainably for, and on behalf of, needy local communities are being thwarted in Slovakia – for a range of all too familiar reasons.
July 9, 2013 | Read more Brussels, July 9, 2013 – The European Parliament’s committee for regional development (REGI) will vote tomorrow on the European Commission’s proposals to reform EU Structural Funds. If approved, the watered-down text will significantly dampen Europe’s potential to promote renewables and energy savings, according to Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe.
July 8, 2013 | Read more So 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.
July 8, 2013 | Read more Tunis — On 9 July the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development will decide on a USD 60 million loan to Serinus Energy for a project to develop four oil and gas fields in Tunisia, which is also likely to include drilling for shale gas. Twenty groups in Tunisia and Europe are calling on the EBRD to reject the loan or at least postpone the decision until further studies are prepared.
July 5, 2013 | Read more It may have been easy in the past for Europeans to bash the US for being retrograde when it comes to climate policies, but after last week it will get more difficult to do that.
July 4, 2013 | Read more Ulaanbaatar, 04 July 2013. A group of Mongolian herders submitted today an official complaint to the Project Complaints Mechanism of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), hoping to initiate a process of evaluation of the adverse impacts on their health and livelihoods of two mining projects financed by the international public lender.
July 3, 2013 | Read more People in Junkovac (Serbia) are still waiting for information on how they will be compensated after a landslide connected to the Kolubara lignite mine has destroyed several houses and terrified the town one month ago.
July 3, 2013 | Read more Brussels, 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.
July 1, 2013 | Read more Croatia’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.
Stay informed
Receive our monthly overviews of the latest developments on the ground.