Balkans

This summer’s 'silly season' featured a a blog post on the EBRD website replete with the claim that the bank has helped turn Serbia into a "role model for social inclusion of Roma". This claim immediately rang hollow in light of the ongoing plethora of abuses of Roma rights in Serbia.

The letter is asking the Serbian government to protect Vreoci community property in the Vreoci cemetery and especially an orthodox chapel that is property of Vreoci citizens.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) decided to start an official investigation into the case of the Sostanj lignite power plant in Slovenia due to serious concerns about corruption and conflicts of interests in the granting of the contract to the company Alstom.

(Information on OLAF staff has been blackened on request by the Office.)

The letter by the Green members of the European Parliament calls for active efforts of the EU representative at the European Bank for Reconstructoin and Development to ensure that the bank's new mining strategy endorses EU principles and standards for resource efficiency, biodiversity protection, poverty eradication, inclusive growth, transparency and public participation in the mining projects the EBRD supports.

The communities in Vreoci request the EBRD to suspend the loan for the Kolubara lignite mine because of the project company's failure to meet performance requirements regarding:
- community health, safety and security
- information disclosure and stakeholder engagement
- land acquisition and resettlement
- environmental and social appraisal management
- pollution prevention and abatement