May 20, 2015 | Read more Bucharest – Another environmental permit for the deforestation of 80 hectares of forest has been cancelled by a Bucharest court, following a Bankwatch Romania petition. The decision curtails plans to expand a lignite quarry in the Gorj county.
May 18, 2015 | Read more Brussels, 18 May 2015 – More than 50 civil society organisations have joined forces to create the ‘Better Regulation Watchdog’ – a network to protect citizens’, workers’ and consumers’ rights. The network was launched today in Brussels, one day ahead of the expected announcement of the European Commission’s so-called ‘Better Regulation’ reforms.
May 14, 2015 | Read more As investors and officials are promoting a gas pipeline project from the Caspian Sea to Italy, the systematic repression of human rights in Azerbaijan is hardly on the official agenda. The Aliyev regime’s weakly veiled attempts to muzzle dissent illustrate how even the most repressive governments are acceptable partners for Europe’s pet energy projects.
May 11, 2015 | Read more Journalist and researcher Ryskeldi Satke reports on Centerra Gold’s annual general meeting where mining activists presented shareholders with information on human rights violations and the negative environmental and social impacts of the Kumtor Gold mine.
May 4, 2015 | Read more Prague, Kiev – CEE Bankwatch Network and the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU) welcome the Ukrainian State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate Council’s decision at its meeting last Thursday (April 30) to suspend the operation of unit 2 in the South Ukraine nuclear power plant once it exceeds its design lifetime next week. According to the Council’s decision, a lifetime extension license for this 30 year old nuclear unit could be considered in the future, but only if all required conditions are met.
April 30, 2015 | Read more After the epic battle against the Rosia Montana gold mine in Romania ended in success, many people still don’t know that Romania and other countries in the region such as Bulgaria are still threatened by several gold mining proposals, some of which would involve the use of cyanide leaching.
April 30, 2015 | Read more In its annual resolution on the European Investment Bank, Members of the European Parliament have criticised the bank’s Project Bond Initiative, warning that the risk-sharing instrument bears similarities to those proposed under the Juncker Investment Plan.
April 30, 2015 | Read more For safety reasons, Europe must help the Ukrainian government retire, not revive, its nuclear reactors. (This commentary originally appeared on Project Syndicate.)
April 27, 2015 | Read more – UPDATING STORY – A Bankwatch fact-finding mission is currently in Ukraine to explore the state of nuclear energy in the country, particularly in light of intentions to extend the lifetime of 12 Soviet-era nuclear units.
April 24, 2015 | Read more London, Prague — Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime has been intensifying its crackdown on civil society with the recent jailing of two leading human rights defenders. The Aliyev regime has gained much of its political and financial clout by siphoning off proceedings from the country’s vast oil and gas reserves. These are the same reserves that the EU is now planning to make its next big source of gas, and the same government that the EU still considers a legitimate partner.
Stay informed
Receive our monthly overviews of the latest developments on the ground.