CEE

At the peak of EU funds’ programming, experiences from CEE countries reveal deficiencies in the application of the Code of Conduct and a flawed implementation of the partnership principle. This undermines the credibility of the programming process and leaves benefits of a comprehensive involvement of all stakeholders untapped. The sometimes even entertaining list of partnership shortcomings brings us to the conclusion that a purely voluntary partnership without common standards much too often continues to end up being a purely formal exercise, and that the promotion of best practices alone is not sufficient to ensure quality partnership.

This report, prepared by Environmental Watch on North Caucasus (EWNC) gives account of the extensive environmental damage resulting from the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

In light of the recent violence in Ukraine, Bankwatch is asking the EBRD, the largest foreign investor in Ukraine, to refrain from any further cooperation both on new and current projects until the government takes decisive and peaceful steps to end the escalation of the current crisis, ends human rights violations committed by government forces, shows clear commitment to settling the political crisis in a peaceful way and addresses the key concerns of the protests.

The EU-backed Energy Community Treaty, which brings together the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova in order to integrate them with the EU energy market. Although original Treaty contains some environmental obligations for signatory countries, it pays relatively little attention to environmental and public health concerns. This in turn increases the likelihood of EU countries importing energy produced at great costs to the people and environment in accession and neighbouring countries. The current revision of the Treaty is a valuable opportunity to rectify this problem.

The Operational Programme Transport 2007-2013 is expected to provide EUR 5.8 billion for transport projects in the Czech Republic. Of this amount, up to EUR 1.3 billion should come from the EIB via the Structural and Cohesion Funds Transport Framework Facility for 2007-2013, with some 55 percent earmarked for investments in new motorway corridors and the rest for upgrades to existing rail corridors. An analysis of the OP project showed many cases of misuse of the public funding.

Currently, a High Level Reflection Group is evaluating the institutional set-up and working methods of the Energy Community and will report this June with suggested improvements to the Ministerial Council. Yet the composition of this group and the informal reports from its first meeting suggest that the environment is in danger of being neglected once again in the updated Treaty.