July 6, 2018 | Read more The seventh Central and Eastern Europe-China “16+1” summit for heads of state is set to take place this week in Sofia, Bulgaria, on the heels of an EU initiative on screening Foreign Direct Investments in the areas of security and public order. The EU initiative comes amidst concerns of increased foreign direct investments – including Chinese – going into strategic and sensitive sectors in Europe.
July 4, 2018 | Read more Brussels, London, Rome, Prague – Today the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a loan of EUR 500 million for the multi-billion euro Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) [1], in spite of the project failing to conform to the bank’s own policies and the fervent local resistance following the 878-kilometre pipeline where it crosses land in Greece and Albania before arriving onshore in Italy.
June 28, 2018 | Read more To truly invest in changing lives and preventing human rights violations, the EBRD must ensure that its independent accountability office can conduct rigorous investigations into allegations of abuse in financed projects – and hold itself accountable.
June 28, 2018 | Read more Prague – Proponents of coal say almost 30,000 jobs will be created or maintained in southeastern Europe if new coal plants are built, while according to new analysis [1] by Bankwatch, over 5,000 jobs will be lost.
June 21, 2018 | Read more London, Prague, Radolfzell, Vienna – Representatives from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign to save Europe’s last remaining wild rivers [1] handed in a petition endorsed globally by more than 120,000 people, calling on international development banks to rein in financial support for hydropower projects in the Balkans.
June 18, 2018 | Read more In the Israeli Environmental Protection Ministry’s annual ranking, Israel Chemicals has been topping the lists of corporate environmental offenders. For the EIB, the company has “sound environmental policy” which justifies a quarter of billion euros for supporting R&D of specialty chemicals. Ahead of the first anniversary of the Ashalim spill, which originated from an ICL subsidiary’s chemicals plant, a new Bankwatch analysis questions the EIB’s engagement with the company.
June 18, 2018 | Read more This story represents one of the few successful examples in Romania but should serve as an inspiration for all the mayors and representatives of the Romanian authorities. Nobody says it’s going to be a smooth sailing when dealing with accessing European funds, but it is important to have well-prepared personnel, a vision for sustainable development and last, but not least, a desire to make positive changes in your community.
June 18, 2018 | Read more The European Investment Bank (EIB) needs to end its investment in fossil fuels and boost support for sustainable energy, reinforce its public accountability, and prioritise human rights, a group of 21 European NGOs write in a letter to EU finance ministers.
June 15, 2018 | Read more The closure of the largest underground mine in Bulgaria, Bobov Dol in the southwest of the country, means Bulgarian authorities are finally forced to think about Just Transition.
June 5, 2018 | Read more Prague, Kyiv, San Francisco – Three communities in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia have filed formal grievances at the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, alleging that the industrial poultry giant Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) has failed to ensure basic transparency regarding the environmental and health impacts at its ‘largest poultry farm in Europe’. [1]
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