Czechia, Greensill and why more openness is needed from its export agencies
May 19, 2021
State support for exports is one part of a national budget where citizens are not sufficiently informed about how their taxes are being spent, and this is problematic given the vast financial flows to investments with questionable results.
When courts help cloak export credit agencies’ financial clout
April 19, 2021
Operating far from the public eye, export credit agencies offer state backing worth billions of dollars every year that in too many cases have enabled both the fossil fuels industry and human rights abuses around the world. These influential public finance institutions have also been relentless in resisting civil society legal challenges to shine a light on how they use public money.
No proper benchmark for checking European Export Credit Agencies’ compliance with EU objectives
September 4, 2020
Despite being the biggest class of public finance institutions operating internationally, export credit agencies (ECAs) are rarely subject to any public scrutiny. European ECAs declare the compliance with the non-binding OECD Common Approaches standards, but it’s an insufficient benchmark for evaluating compliance with the EU’s External Action obligations as stated by the relevant EU Regulation.
Just can’t get enough judgements: Croatian export bank still firmly riding the waves of opacity
January 30, 2020
The Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) has recently started another court case against the decision of Croatia’s Information Commissioner before the High Administrative Court. In the contested decision, the Commissioner ordered HBOR to disclose information about its export credit projects to the environmental organization Green Istria. This court case adds to no fewer than 31 appeals that HBOR started against similar decisions by the Commissioner between 2015-2019. It lost all of them.
Great exportations: aligning Europe’s export credit agencies with the EU’s pro people and planet policy agenda
November 20, 2019
This document aims to provide information to Members of the European Parliament about the size, scope and lack of sufficient transparency at the export credit agencies (ECAs). The paper proposes changes to make the ECAs climate- friendly institutions,
When will the European Ombudsman’s decision on export credits come to pass?
November 20, 2019
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has clearly expressed political will to focus on climate and sustainability in EU finance and policy coherence. The announcement of the European Green Deal is a chance to make good on leading sustainability a substantial portion of European public finance: export credits.
Uncertain future for Slovakia’s development funds
August 22, 2019
The Slovak government does not seem to understand the difference between export promotion and development aid, as it proposes to lump the two under one institution, Eximbanka SR.
Slovakia’s climate duplicity
August 15, 2019
At home, Slovakia pays lip service to the climate issues, but abroad – it does not even bother pretending. As it continues to finance crude oil facilities in Cuba, its real climate ambitions are laid bare.
The secret life of export credit agencies
August 1, 2019
When respectable, risk-averse development banks turn away from a project, oftentimes export credit agencies (ECAs) are the ones to step in. These government-backed institutions manage hundreds of billions of dollars annually, investing mostly in large infrastructure projects in politically-volatile countries, while avoiding the same scrutiny as other public financiers.
Third time’s a charm? New attempts to sell off unprofitable Czech coal plant in Turkey
July 25, 2019
The Turkish state fund TMSF opened a new round of bidding for the troubled Adularya coal power plant only two weeks after a second unsuccessful attempt to sell the project. The move is unexpected because this third round preempts statements by the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, which had said it planned a visit to Ankara to understand why the tender failed for the project that has been plagued by legal challenges.
