November 14, 2011 | Read more Today Bankwatch member group Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth – Croatia held an action today outside the offices of the EBRD in Zagreb, calling on the bank not to approve a planned loan of up to EUR 123 million for the Ombla hydropower plant project. You can see some images from the demo here.
November 11, 2011 | Read more As the eurozone crisis continues to unfold, lending from international financial institutions to the banking sector must be held to the task of supporting the most vulnerable – especially the SMEs in CEE – or it will continue to perform largely unsuccessful and unchecked as it has during the crisis to date.
November 10, 2011 | Read more The proper financial management of EU funds is important to avoid fraud and illegitimate spending. Yet more important is the quality of the funded projects.
November 7, 2011 | Read more Skopje – A coalition of more than 30 Macedonian and international NGOs are calling on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) not to finance Boskov Most hydro power plant in north-western Macedonia. The project would seriously damage Mavrovo national park, the largest in the country and a potential Natura 2000 site, while at the same time being envisaged to produce a relatively small amount of electricity to be used only for the stabilization of the national energy system.
October 31, 2011 | Read more Why is it that when we advocate for something to the international financial institutions (IFIs) they often manage to give it a peculiar twist of their own?
October 27, 2011 | Read more The European Financial Stability Facility is a crucial element of eurozone leaders’ proposed solution to the debt crisis. But behind the shining EUR 1 trillion armour of the EFSF lurks an institution that could bring further mayhem as a closer look by Bankwatch’s alternative economics coordinator Roman Havlicek reveals.
October 26, 2011 | Read more Zagreb — Croatian and international environmental organisations have today called on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) not to go ahead with a planned EUR 123 million loan for the Ombla hydropower plant near Dubrovnik in Croatia, due to be approved by the bank’s Board of Directors on November 8. In an open letter to the bank, the organisations point to ecological, economic, and procedural problems with the plans, which even the consultants hired by the EBRD to assess the project have described as “high risk”.
October 20, 2011 | Read more Upset by Slovenia’s plans to build a huge lignite power plant unit in Sostanj, Slovenian artist Marko Kumer-Murc and Slovene environmentalists from Focus brought their protest to Brussels. Our media officer was on sight and brought back a few images.
October 19, 2011 | Read more By requesting a number of changes at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Parliament has confirmed at least some of Bankwatch’s criticism of the bank’s mode of operation and (in a subtle way) also its overall approach.
October 19, 2011 | Read more Brussels – With an art installation that symbolizes EU citizens locked in a polluted environment, the Slovenian artist Marko Kumer Murč and Slovene environmentalists from Focus protest against European public and private banks pouring hundreds of millions of euros into a new lignite plant in their country, at Sostanj. Many Slovenians oppose this project and the Slovenian parliament has just refused to support a state guarantee for the banks’ loans. The action is supported by the international NGOs Banktrack and CEE Bankwatch Network, which are campaigning against the project.
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