Green agriculture spending culled in Estonia – NGOs demand proper use of future EU money
June 26, 2013
While the EU’s future common agricultural policy is taking shape in Brussels, it’s not just there that major agri-business interests are flexing their muscles to take the ‘green-ness’ out of EU agricultural spending.
EU funds in people’s hands. When small things make a difference.
June 17, 2013
A Croation winner of Bankwatch’s Better Ideas contest for sustainable EU Funds has just begun implementing their project. The positive responses from their community and the successful start illustrate that “small is beautiful” can also apply to Cohesion Policy.
Energy efficiency becoming more central to future EU spending in the Czech Republic – thanks to NGO calls
May 21, 2013
Energy efficiency has now become a priority for EU funding in the Czech Republic for the forthcoming 2014-2020 budgetary period.
Regional funding negotiations – Green groups warn against last minute reintroduction of fossil fuel subsidies
May 16, 2013
With the final negotiations aimed at sealing agreement on the EU budget for 2014-20 now underway, environment NGOs are warning that a last minute amendment aimed at permitting EU subsidies for fossil fuels that are devastating for the climate must be rejected by negotiators of the future EU Cohesion Policy’s regional development funds.
New CEE Bankwatch Network Study: “No Time to Waste: Cohesion Funds programming for a resource-efficient Europe”
March 27, 2013
Find the study here >> The EU Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiative, the strategic framework setting out how the waste sector should look like in Europe by 2020, envisages that by the end of this decade waste in Europe will be managed as a resource we have to care for, hence landfilling has to be eliminated, incineration limited to non recyclable materials, and recycling turned into a truly economically viable option.
These EU citizens have better ideas for EU funds
February 22, 2013
Our competition for ideas for EU funds investments that benefit the sustainable development of European communities could offer inspiration for EU and national decision makers. At the final award ceremony in Brussels, the winners told us about their ideas and how EU funding could benefit their countries.
The partnership principle in the early stages of programming – experiences from CEE countries
February 20, 2013
The partnership principle is one of the main principles of Cohesion Policy. Even though still under negotiation it is foreseeable that the new legislation for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 will enshrine substantial progress in further establishing the partnership principle, i.e. providing for a comprehensive involvement of EU Cohesion Policy stakeholders into planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EU funds’ investments. This document aims to present the divergence between the agreed principles of the partnership and current experiences in central and eastern European countries.
Response from NGO representatives in Structural Dialogue on the European Code of Conduct on Partnership – The Delegated Act – Preparatory Fiche no. 1
February 16, 2013
BREAKING: The EU budget important stuff takes place outside the Brussels negotiating room, and Europeans should have a say
February 7, 2013
Live from the EU budget negotiations in Brussels …
Video: Notes for a better Europe
October 17, 2012
European spending is often considered unnecessary, beaurocratic, and even damaging. We’re the last ones to deny that in Bankwatch. Yet, we are convinced that EU spending – if it is done right – can truly serve the public interest by creating jobs, reducing energy bills, minimizing air pollution, etc. Our new video highlights how some European projects are showing the way to a greener Europe and a better world.
