• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bankwatch

  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Who we are
    • 30 years of Bankwatch
    • Donors & finances
    • Get involved
  • What we do
    • Campaign areas
      • Beyond fossil fuels
      • Rights, democracy and development
      • Finance and biodiversity
      • Funding the energy transformation
      • Cities for People
    • Institutions we monitor
      • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
      • European Investment Bank
      • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
      • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
      • EU funds
    • Our projects
    • Success stories
  • Publications
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press releases
    • Stories
    • Podcast
    • Us in the media
    • Videos

Home > Press release > Croatian civil society groups ask new government to withdraw from Ombla hydro project

Croatian civil society groups ask new government to withdraw from Ombla hydro project

Croatian environmental groups today held a protest action outside of the Croatian parliament calling on the country’s new government not to go ahead with the controversial EBRD-financed EUR 150 million Ombla HPP project.

16 December 2011

Croatian environmental groups today held a protest action outside of the Croatian parliament calling on the country’s new government not to go ahead with the controversial EBRD-financed EUR 150 million Ombla HPP project.

Holding a giant pay-in slip with the EBRD named as the recipient, the groups aimed to highlight the folly of taking on new massive public debt for an environmentally destructive project whose economic viability is questionable at a time when Croatia is suffering from economic crisis and external debt at 100 percent of GDP .

The majority of the Ombla project is due to be financed through a syndicated loan of which EU 80 million is to be provided by the EBRD, with the remaining EUR 43.2 million from commercial banks. The loan was approved in November and hastily signed just days before Croatia’s 4 December parliamentary election. However disbursement is conditional on a biodiversity assessment being carried out so the project cannot start yet.

Images of the action are available online here

Never miss an update

We expose the risks of international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground – straight to your inbox.





Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate | Balkans

Location: Croatia

Project: Ombla hydropower plant, Croatia

Footer

CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of CEE Bankwatch Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Unless otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 License

Your personal data collected on the website is governed by the present Privacy Policy.

Get in touch with us

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube