Parliament warns of risky financing, demands more accountability at Europe’s bank
April 30, 2015
In its annual resolution on the European Investment Bank, Members of the European Parliament have criticised the bank’s Project Bond Initiative, warning that the risk-sharing instrument bears similarities to those proposed under the Juncker Investment Plan.
Europe’s back is to the future: Bankwatch and Counter Balance statement on the first projects of the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI)
April 23, 2015
Yesterday the European Investment Bank announced the first four projects to be financed from the EUR 315 billion EFSI. These include EUR 303 million for health care research in Spain, a public-private partnership in the Irish health sector, the expansion of the Dubrovnik airport in Croatia and a nineteenth century Italian steel factory.
Parliament presses for more scrutiny of EU Investment Plan but guts green prospects
April 20, 2015
BRUSSELS – MEPs ditch ring fencing for energy savings but demand more democratic oversight over the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) that has been setup to implement Commission President Juncker’s economic recovery plan.
Statement on the European Parliament ITRE Committee vote
April 15, 2015
CEE Bankwatch Network, Friends of the Earth Europe and Counter Balance welcome yesterday’s vote to earmark EUR 5 billion for energy savings projects across Europe by the Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE). The funds were allocated via an amendment to the European Fund for Strategic Investment regulation proposed by Commission president Juncker in December 2014. The vote also requires that any energy infrastructure project financed from the EUR 315 billion investment plan be in line with Europe’s long term energy and climate targets for 2050.
European Parliament intergroup ITCO condemns new transparency policy of the European Investment Bank
March 13, 2015
The European Investment Bank’s slide towards secrecy, manifest in its newly adopted transparency policy, has been lambasted by the intergroup of the European Parliament responsible for transparency and corruption.
European Fund for Strategic Investments: focus on low carbon, clean energy and resource efficiency investments
February 16, 2015
The European Commission President Juncker’s ‘Investment plan for growth and jobs’ is aiming at mobilising EUR 315 billion of additional investments by 2018. A proposed regulation setting up the framework of the EFSI is currently negotiated in the European Parliament and the Council and its adoption is envisaged for June 2015. This briefing, prepared by Bankwatch, Counter Balance, Friends of the Earth Europe and WWF Europe stresses that this regulation should give clarity on how the fund will contribute to the achievement of EU long-term objectives, its added-value for the EU and the expected benefits for European citizens: all projects benefiting from the fund should explicitly accelerate the transition of Europe’s economies, infrastructure investments should aim at the decarbonisation, decentralization and decrease of energy and transport systems, R&D focusing on the absolute decoupling of resource use and production.
UPDATE 7: Juncker on the investment offensive … against Europeans, the economy and the environment
January 22, 2015
Labelled the €1.3 trillion investment offensive, more than 2000 projects have been identified by the European Commission’s new Task Force on Investment (made up of representatives of the EC, EIB and member states) for fast-tracked financing from President Juncker’s recently announced €315 billion stimulus plan.
Juncker’s investment offensive risks turning against Europeans
December 18, 2014
Brussels – Environmental NGOs call on President Juncker, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to consider for financing from the 315 billion growth package only projects which are sustainable and in line with EU goals and only after proper public consultation with potentially affected communities.
Letter to the European Commission and the EIB regarding the EFSI investment fund
December 16, 2014
This letter, sent by a group of NGOs from the Green 10 and Counter Balance coalitions, calls on the Juncker Commission and the European Investment Bank to apply principles of transparency and sustainability for the EUR 315 billion investment package.
