Bypass: the hidden social toll of Georgia’s East-West Highway on its towns and villages
May 5, 2025
Supported by international development banks and promoted as a strategic corridor linking Asia to Europe, Georgia’s East-West highway is central to the country’s ambitions of becoming a regional transit hub. With a price tag of EUR 1.2 billion, much of which is financed through loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the World Bank (WB), the highway construction project was framed as a symbol of progress, promising speed, connectivity and economic growth.
Ringing the bell for gender equality and diversity: European public banks must do more for women’s rights and economic empowerment
March 7, 2025
In the current age of ‘competent white men’, ‘traditional family values’ and the EU’s simplified sustainable finance regulations, what lies in store for the inclusion and equality policies of Europe’s public development banks?
Countering shrinking space: How multilateral development banks can empower civil society in the Western Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia
February 25, 2025
This report examines how multilateral development banks have failed to adequately protect civil society in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and Central Asia.
EIB Group Complaints Mechanism ineffective in addressing complaints submitted in relation to the Budapest Airport expansion project
January 31, 2025
In this case study, we lay bare inefficiencies of the EIB and EBRD grievance mechanisms using a real-life example – the Budapest Airport Expansion Project – and make recommendations for the next review of the EIB Group Complaints Mechanism Policy.
EIB fears ‘reputational disaster’ over revised EU green reporting
January 7, 2025
Anna Roggenbuck, policy officer at the campaign group CEE Bankwatch, said the EIB “is not transparent in how it calculates a project’s carbon emissions including all the scope of emissions, and because this is not public, there is no outside scrutiny”.
Bank of scandals: toxic culture of favouritism exposed at the European Investment Bank
December 11, 2024
“Compared to other financial institutions, the EIB is run with a high level of internal secrecy,” said Anna Roggenbuck, who has been following the EIB for over 15 years for Bankwatch, a civil society organisation that monitors publicly financed projects.
The European Investment Bank has a chronic ‘revolving doors’ problem
December 5, 2024
Instead of the EIB shrugging its shoulders at yet another revolving door case, it must understand these new revelations as a wake-up call to drive the necessary changes that will enable it, as a key EU institution, to retain public legitimacy.
Holding the EIB and EBRD accountable: Are their grievance mechanisms effective?
November 20, 2024
In this report, we examine the alignment of the EIB and EBRD grievance mechanisms with the effectiveness criteria for the design and assessment of non-judicial complaints mechanisms set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Briefing for the Board of Directors and Management Committee of the European Investment Bank
October 16, 2024
Compared to other multilateral development banks like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the EIB lags significantly in the timely and proactive disclosure of project-related data.
Big fish, small Parliament pond
August 1, 2024
NGO Bankwatch’s Anna Roggenbuck says the affair “shows a clear conflict of interest at the top management of the EIB, to which the Bank did not react.”
