April 14, 2008 | Read more The district court in Vlora, Albania last week released three members of the Civic Alliance for the Protection of Vlora Bay [1] who were arrested and detained for two weeks after protesting against the construction of a hydrocarbons terminal in Vlora. The terminal, regarded by the protestors as bringing few benefits to the local economy in exchange for high environmental risks, is being built by the Italian investor La Petrolifera Italo Rumena. The project is currently seeking a EUR 15 million credit from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
March 11, 2008 | Read more The Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Vlora Bay, a local Albanian initiative group, continued on Sunday to press for a referendum on an oil deposit and a thermo-power plant being constructed north of the town of Vlora on Albania’s Adriatic coast.
February 25, 2008 | Read more A new map with details of 50 environmentally damaging and economically dubious infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe was launched by CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe in Brussels today [1]. Based on the most extensive investigation to date, the map entitled ‘Cohesion or Collision?’ shows controversial projects with a total cost of EUR 22 billion. The projects are either already financed, or planned to be financed, by EU structural and cohesion funds and/or the European Investment Bank (EIB) [2].
January 22, 2008 | Read more Close to 3000 residents of Vlora, an Albanian city on the Adriatic coast, greeted the visit of representatives of the World Banks Inspection Panel with a clear plea – end World Bank credits for the EUR 110m thermal power plant that is part of a huge energy park development threatening the sensitive Vlora bay.
December 31, 2007 | Read more The Civic Alliance for Protection of the Vlora Bay together with the Vlora Student Movement is now in the eighth day of protesting against construction of the Vlora thermo-power plant and a hydrocarbons terminal on a beach on the outskirts of the Albanian city located on the Adriatic coast. On December 25 a group of 30 people blocked the access road to the construction sites thus preventing further progress on both sites. Four days later, 10 protesters were arrested, including Eneid Hamzaj, the leader of the Vlora Student Movement.
November 29, 2007 | Read more With a resounding majority (540 MEPs in favour), the European Parliament today passed a resolution on trade and climate change which calls for “the discontinuation of public support, via export credit agencies and public investment banks, for fossil fuel projects”. The step was widely welcomed by environmental and development NGOs campaigning on export credit agencies (ECAs) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
October 18, 2007 | Read more The selection of projects for billions of euros of EU funding in Poland is widely perceived by Polish municipalities to be politically-driven and non-transparent, new research conducted by Bankwatch member group the Institute of Environmental Economics (IEE) has found.
October 12, 2007 | Read more Vlora, Albania – The city council of Vlora in Albania this week approved a citizens’ initiative to hold a public referendum on the development in the picturesque Bay of Vlora of a 200,000 ton oil and gas terminal that is being promoted by the Italian La Petrolífera Italo Rumena company. If constructed, the terminal would become another component of a controversial industrial and energy park located less than six kilometres north of Vlora, a city of more than 150,000 inhabitants.
October 2, 2007 | Read more Bankwatch staff members have just returned from an invigorating and productive meeting with environmental and human rights groups from 14 countries aimed at developing responses to the rash of oil pipeline projects being proposed in South East Europe to bring Russian and Caspian oil to Europe and the US.
August 30, 2006 | Read more The recent public debate organised in Bucharest to discuss the controversial USD 500 million Rosia Montana gold mine project have been disrupted and debased by the actions of the projects sponsor, the Canadian company Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), allege Romanian groups. The Bucharest-based TERRA Mileniul III and the Centre for Legal Resources maintain that the discussions taking place as part of the gold project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure have been tainted by RMGC’s bussing in of rowdy supporters of the project and also because of crucial missing project documentation.
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