There you have it: Green investments do create jobs
November 18, 2011
A study from the Czech Republic vividly confirms the positive economic impact of public support schemes for energy efficiency investments. The future Cohesion Policy can offer valuable stimuli for such schemes – if EU Member States set the right priorities now.
Five ways to bring Cohesion Policy closer to citizens
November 17, 2011
By allowing open and inclusive consultations on the future Cohesion Policy, Latvia is not only devising its national position in a more democratic way than other EU Member States. It is also setting an example for actually getting people interested in it.
The people’s perspective please: are public social safety nets important?
November 16, 2011
Yesterday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) published its Transition Report for 2011, subtitled “The People’s Perspective”. This is because the study pays unprecedented attention to how regular households in post-socialist countries are managing after almost three years of economic crisis.
The day renewable energy was killed in the Czech Republic
November 14, 2011
The Czech renewable energy industry last week received a strong blow from our very own Parliament which approved measures that will likely smother the sector in a bill ironically entitled the „Renewable energy sources support bill.”
European Parliament makes a step towards putting the ‘E’ into EBRD
October 19, 2011
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.
There is a light at the end of the EIB tunnel
October 18, 2011
The European Investment Bank finally invited for a dialogue with civil society organisations. It might be a little ambitious to say that true dialogue happened there, but certainly the NGOs were able to send a couple of strong messages to the EIB Board, and, for a while, it felt like the Board was listening.
Did the glimmer of gold blind the EBRD?
October 11, 2011
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has become a stakeholder in a company that is involved in gold mining in a UNESCO World Heritage site in Russia. Not only does this violate its own Environmental and Social Policy, but it also tells me a lot about the bank’s assessment of partner companies.
R1 Prague motorway, Czech Republic
May 9, 2011
Prague motorway’s ringroad R1 is a crucial part of the Czech Republic’s Trans-European Network (TEN-T). However, some of the road sections being planned for construction are failing to fulfil TEN-T project criteria and their cost-effectiveness is highly questionable.
Ignoring Chernobyl’s lessons – How EU ‘Energy Security’ expands nuclear energy in Ukraine
April 26, 2011
As the world marks the 25th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and against the backdrop of the threat from Fukushima’s nuclear facilities, our study reveals that the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are indirectly supporting lifetime extensions of old Ukrainian nuclear reactors as a means to secure ‘cheap’ Ukrainian electricity exports to the EU Member States.
D8 Motorway, Czech Republic
February 18, 2011
The D8 motorway is part of the Berlin – Prague – Budapest – Sofia – Istanbul European multi-modal transport corridor IV. The controversial history of its construction started fifteen years ago when the Czech government reapproved a motorway scheme that was conceived in 1963.