Dubious COVID help: who keeps an eye on Czech state guarantees to big companies?
May 26, 2022
The Czech state-owned insurance company EGAP has secured a loan of CZK 2 billion from state COVID aid for Liberty Ostrava that is closely connected to Greensil, a company plagued by a corruption scandal.
In Czechia, dubious projects funded from covid support
February 3, 2022
Inflation is all over the news in Czechia these days. The prices of electricity, housing, goods and services are on the rise. One of the reasons behind this is the government’s excessive spending. While some of the budget items have been openly discussed, others are hidden to the public. One example is the COVID Plus state aid programme worth billions of Czech crowns for large export companies.
Czechia, Greensill and why more openness is needed from its export agencies
May 19, 2021
State support for exports is one part of a national budget where citizens are not sufficiently informed about how their taxes are being spent, and this is problematic given the vast financial flows to investments with questionable results.
When courts help cloak export credit agencies’ financial clout
April 19, 2021
Operating far from the public eye, export credit agencies offer state backing worth billions of dollars every year that in too many cases have enabled both the fossil fuels industry and human rights abuses around the world. These influential public finance institutions have also been relentless in resisting civil society legal challenges to shine a light on how they use public money.
No proper benchmark for checking European Export Credit Agencies’ compliance with EU objectives
September 4, 2020
Despite being the biggest class of public finance institutions operating internationally, export credit agencies (ECAs) are rarely subject to any public scrutiny. European ECAs declare the compliance with the non-binding OECD Common Approaches standards, but it’s an insufficient benchmark for evaluating compliance with the EU’s External Action obligations as stated by the relevant EU Regulation.
When will the European Ombudsman’s decision on export credits come to pass?
November 20, 2019
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has clearly expressed political will to focus on climate and sustainability in EU finance and policy coherence. The announcement of the European Green Deal is a chance to make good on leading sustainability a substantial portion of European public finance: export credits.
Policy coherence and transparency of EU export credits
November 3, 2019
Member State-backed loans lack transparency. EU legislation requires states to report to the European Parliament to review the compliance of export credit agency (ECA) activities with Union objectives and obligations, including on climate and human rig
The secret life of export credit agencies
August 1, 2019
When respectable, risk-averse development banks turn away from a project, oftentimes export credit agencies (ECAs) are the ones to step in. These government-backed institutions manage hundreds of billions of dollars annually, investing mostly in large infrastructure projects in politically-volatile countries, while avoiding the same scrutiny as other public financiers.
Third time’s a charm? New attempts to sell off unprofitable Czech coal plant in Turkey
July 25, 2019
The Turkish state fund TMSF opened a new round of bidding for the troubled Adularya coal power plant only two weeks after a second unsuccessful attempt to sell the project. The move is unexpected because this third round preempts statements by the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, which had said it planned a visit to Ankara to understand why the tender failed for the project that has been plagued by legal challenges.
ARCHIVED: Export Credit Agencies (ECAs)
June 18, 2019
With many billions of dollars at their disposal, export credit agency finance far outpaces that of development banks and yet avoids the same public scrutiny. Most money flows into large infrastructure projects in politically-volatile countries that oft
