Is the EBRD’s policy on offshore financial centres meaningful?
May 15, 2011
In 2010 the EBRD approved a senior loan of up to RUB 650 million (around EUR 16 million) for the New Forwarding Company (Novaya perevozochnaya kompaniya – NPK), the main operating subsidiary of Globaltrans Investment Plc, the top private railway transportation company in Russia. When trying to find out who owns GlobalTrans Investment, the trail stops in the Bahamas. What does this case mean for the EBRD’s policy on offshore jurisdictions and transparency more generally?
Nabucco and the Arab Spring
May 15, 2011
The democratic revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East have not quite spread it to the authoritarian regimes of Central Asia. Nevertheless nervous reactions among leaders in these countries have proven another weakness of the proposed Nabucco pipeline project, in that the stable gas supplies promised by the project under the capacious term “energy security” are much less “secure” than previously expected.
ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih – transition without sustainability
May 15, 2011
After 5 years of project implementation, the EBRD admits: “The investment with ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih (AMKR) … has achieved the objectives related to increased capacity utilisation, corporate restructuring and market expansion. Conversely, it fell short of its energy efficiency objectives; and saw an unsatisfactory environmental performance.”
Letter: EBRD and EIB should review involvement in Sostanj due to serious shortcomings in the project’s management
May 4, 2011
On April 14 2011 the Minister of Economy of Slovenia, presented a report on the management of the Sostanj TES 6 project to the Government of Slovenia. In the report many shortcomings of the project are highlighted, which led the Government to state that it will only support a state guarantee for the EIB loan amounting to EUR 440 million if the economic efficiency of the project can be improved.
Vinci – a cover for oligarchs and tax havens in Russia’s first road PPP
April 30, 2011
An opaque web of offshore companies and oligarchs behind the controversial EUR 1.5 billion first section of the Moscow–St. Petersburg motorway public-private partnership provides new grounds for the Russian government to re-examine the controversial project, according to this new research by CEE Bankwatch Network and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest.
If fences make good neighbours, what about nuclear energy? How Ukraine’s nuclear future ties into Europe’s energy security strategy
April 26, 2011
In 2010 Ukraine joined the European Energy Community to integrate into the European electricity and gas markets. The Ukrainian government is looking to the EU and international financial institutions to sponsor a warily nuclear-intensive, export-oriented energy program.
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.
Bankwatch Mail 47
April 15, 2011
Content (Click on titles to read articles online) Abuses continue in Moscow as development banks give up on Khimki road financing Local pressure in Lithuania keeps EU funds out of the waste incineration fire It’s the EU funds, stupid, and the green economic dividends they offer BTC under fire for violating human rights obligations and pipeline integrity issues
Vinci’s failure to respect Global Compact commitments on human rights and the environment in Khimki
March 28, 2011
The letter to representatives of the UN Global Compact gives details on the failure to respect commitments under the Global Compact initiative by the construction company Vinci in connection with the Moscow St. Petersburg motorway project (near Khimki).
Letter to European Commission: Consultation process for the future Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance post 2013
March 25, 2011
Consultations for the future Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) has not been promoted adequately to attract attention and inputs from civil society. Bankwatch and its partners and members from the Western Balkan region therefore request to prolong the consultation period and promote the call for consultations more widely.
