Chelopech gold and copper mine Bulgaria – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
May 15, 2009
After visiting Chelopech TMF in October 2008, members of the Petition Committee of the European Parliament report an ‘immediate threat to public health, water, soil and agricultural production, and the climate conditions in the region’ posed by the Mining project. Their report recommends further investigations by EC and Bulgarian Government and calls for implementation of EU environmental law and basic rights and principles.
Nabucco: a short sighted answer to the energy security challenge – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
May 15, 2009
Both EBRD and EIB consider support for the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline. But proponents of the project successfully avoid several important issues. Among them are the human rights records of the potential partners Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, both ranked among the most authoritarian regimes in the world.
D1 Motorway, Slovakia – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
May 15, 2009
The D1 motorway is one of the key priorities of the Slovak government and in line for EBRD and EIB support. The government as repeatedly declared its intention to finish the project by 2010, but the currently planned route was not subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment and represents a serious impact on the NATURA 2000 network. Apart from the disregard of EIA recommendations which favoured a variant that bypasses almost all important natural habitats, several crucial questions have to be asked at the EBRD London AGM on May 15-16.
Bubbling under the surface: The role of western public finance in the crisis hitting central and eastern Europe
May 14, 2009
The financial and economic crisis unravelling across the world economy has fundamentally changed economic policy imperatives for states and international financial institutions, including those operating at the European level. This situation offers the opportunity to articulate policies favourable to progressive social and environmental aims as integral parts of effective and transformative plans for economic recovery. While todays policy makers are unlikely to be moved by such arguments at this point, broader layers of social actors engaged in debates about the crisis most definitely will. This report seeks to provide guidance for their mobilisation by considering the context, formulation and delivery of crisis response policies by the EC, the EIB and the EBRD in relation to the CEE economies.
Bankwatch Mail 40
May 14, 2009
In this issue: Nabucco spells energy securitisation not security * Crisis puts the EBRD back in the same old business * EBRD complaint mechanism gets a personality * EBRD drawing more power lines in Ukraine’s unsustainable energy sands * An end to energy efficiency excuses in Ukraine * Flagship PPP road project to be built with state money * ArcelorMittal – Going nowhere slowly * Hopeless in Gazela * New Gazela documentary * More dirty energy development for Albania * Smoke on Georgian water privatisation * Faster, smarter but more destructive crisis money for CEE?
ArcelorMittal: Going nowhere slowly. A review of the global steel giant’s environmental and social impacts in 2008-2009.
May 12, 2009
This new report reviews the company’s environmental and social impacts during the years 2008-2009 since the coalition Global Action on ArcelorMittal published its first report on the company in May 2008. The new report includes case studies from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, India, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Romania and South Africa.
Letter to President Barroso regarding accelerated EU funding for controversial projects in CEE countries
May 11, 2009
Complaint to EIB regarding breaches of EU legislation in preparations for the D1 motorway
May 4, 2009
Bankwatch member group Friend of the Earth-CEPA outlines in the complaint letter the breaches of EU legislation it believes have taken place during the preparation of the Turany – Hubov section of the D1 motorway. Both the EIB and EBRD are requested to halt plans for financing the project until the noted issues have been resolved, and the European Commission is asked to reconsider its acceptance of the project.
Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania
April 13, 2009
With the planning and preparatory process for the new Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania well underway, a first version of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report has been issued last September. Bankwatch member groups from the Baltic States, participating in the public consultation process of the report, are calling for other than nuclear alternatives and the development of a responsible and sustainable energy sector in the region.
Chelopech gold and copper mine Bulgaria
April 9, 2009
Only four months after the Board of Directors at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) had approved an increase to the original loan for the Canadian Dundee Precious Metals Development for its Chelopech gold and copper mine in Bulgaria, the Petitions Committee at the European Parliament deemed the situation at the mines tailings dam as alarming during the site visit on 29 October 2008. The questions to be asked are what is happening on the ground and on the basis of what information the EBRD decided to extend the financing for the Chelopech mine.