Democracy is nobody’s business – MEPs pledge to stand up for people over profit
April 15, 2014
At the end of May the whole of Europe will be going to the ballot box for the 2014 European Parliament elections. But when the votes are counted and members-to-be (MEPs) take their place, who are they going to represent – people or profit? The Bankwatch supported campaign Politics for people asks them to take a pledge against the latter.
Over 40 MEPs from across the political spectrum pledge to stand-up for citizens and democracy against excessive corporate lobbying
April 15, 2014
Today, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), AK EUROPA (Brussels office of the Austrian Chamber of Labour) & ÖGB Europabüro (Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation), together with a broad coalition of civil society organisations from across Europe, are launching their campaign to urge candidates for the upcoming European elections to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business”.
UPDATE: Danube dam-busting – Under the radar EU funds grab spotted in Slovakia
March 25, 2014
A highly problematic Danube dam project has found its way into the Slovak Operational Programme for the Cohesion Policy spending in the 2014-2020 period and has become a small scandal in the country.
Mobilisation of public-private financing for community based sustainable energy projects – POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
March 23, 2014
These policy recommendations propose mechanisms for the mobilisation of public-private financing for community based sustainable energy projects in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and Slovakia.
Financing mechanisms for community based sustainable energy projects in central and eastern Europe
March 22, 2014
This expertise summarises the results of expert workshops and aims to contribute to the development of viable financing and investment schemes for Community Power to be introduced particularly in CEE countries in order to tackle financial barriers that prevent or delay the development of community-owned energy projects in the region.
Slovenia’s shoddy Šoštanj 6 busts the myth of cheap lignite power
March 20, 2014
Bankwatch has been monitoring and campaigning against the ill-conceived EBRD- and EIB-financed Unit 6 at Šoštanj in Slovenia for several years now. Yet the project never ceases to amaze with its myriad flaws and scandals – and the first few months of 2014 have been no exception.
UPDATE 2: The devil is in the implementation – Experiences from the partnership principle in central and eastern European practice
March 20, 2014
At the peak of EU funds’ programming, experiences from CEE countries reveal deficiencies in the application of the Code of Conduct and a flawed implementation of the partnership principle. This undermines the credibility of the programming process and leaves benefits of a comprehensive involvement of all stakeholders untapped. The sometimes even entertaining list of partnership shortcomings brings us to the conclusion that a purely voluntary partnership without common standards much too often continues to end up being a purely formal exercise, and that the promotion of best practices alone is not sufficient to ensure quality partnership.
Deficiencies in the implementation of the partnership principle in Cohesion Policy – Letter to DG Regio
March 19, 2014
Civil society organisations have noticed that a number of basic partnership principles are not met by member states during the ongoing programming of Cohesion Policy for the 2014-2020 period. (Read more in this briefing).
Eyes on different prizes – EU funds negotiations enter last lap in Slovakia
March 5, 2014
The Partnership Agreement (the main strategic document underpinning the new Cohesion Policy) is the place to state not only intentions but commitments, yet the latter are missing in Slovakia’s EU funds blueprint for now.
Cold shower for Czech incinerator plans – no EU funding, says European Commission
March 4, 2014
The Czech Republic’s long-standing difficulties in realising major waste incinerator schemes via EU funds investments have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks as the European Commission has poured cold water on the country’s incineration plans, both as they apply to the 2007-2013 EU funding period and to the forthcoming 2014-2020 period now entering the final stages of negotiations.
