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Mind the infrastructure gap

Bankwatch Mail | 2 December, 2014 | Download PDF

A case of outrageous bad fortune, or a portent of things to come? The one thing that can be stated with any certainty about the collapsed Castor project, the underground gas storage plant in Vinaròs, Spain that was selected in 2013 as the lead-out project for the EU’s Project Bond Initiative (PBI), is that the Spanish government has put its citizens on the hook to cover a compensation package of EUR 1.35 billion to ESCAL UGS, the project promoter.


EIB role in Juncker investment package draws more questions than answers for now

Bankwatch Mail | 2 December, 2014 | Download PDF

Here we go again. Having been called upon to ramp up its investments in 2009 and 2010 as part of Europe’s initial financial crisis fire-fighting, and then in 2012 been a central cog in the EU’s ambitious but ultimately lacklustre ‘Growth Compact’, the European Investment Bank now finds itself at the heart of new European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s three-year drive to boost investment in Europe, as unveiled on November 26.


Castor project sends Project Bonds Initiative shockwaves, taxpayers hit worst

Bankwatch Mail | 2 December, 2014 | Download PDF

In July 2013, the much-hyped joint European commission/EIB ‘Project Bond Initiative’ (PBI) had scarcely got off the ground – in its pilot phase at least – when unusual natural events took over. Work at the EUR 1.7 billion Castor underground gas storage plant off the coast of Valencia commenced in summer 2013. But by mid-September the Spanish government was forced to halt work at the plant after 220 mini earthquakes in the area were detected in less than a month. Local residents reported the tremors following injections of natural gas to prepare Castor for operations. Subsequent research has found that the gas injection provoked 1,000 earthquakes in the region.


European Ombudsman hammers EIB over Bosnian bridge maladministration

Bankwatch Mail | 2 December, 2014 | Download PDF

An unprecedented ruling and serious tough talking emanated from the European Ombudsman at the end of October following an investigation into the EIB’s involvement with a bridge construction project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Describing the approach taken by the EIB in the case as “wholly unacceptable”, the Ombudsman’s conclusion pulled no punches in asserting that the bank’s “maladministration risks putting into question the European Union’s commitment to strengthening the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”


EIB and EBRD transparency nosedive needs fixing – and fast

Bankwatch Mail | 2 December, 2014 | Download PDF

Operational transparency standards at the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development continue to deteriorate, according to the 2014 Aid Transparency Index (ATI) published in October by aid watchdog Publish What You Fund (PWYF).


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