EU

While central and eastern European countries can use EU funds as a financial tool helping them to meet the requirements of European waste directives, the money is not spent in line with these directives. This case study explains why, focusing mainly on the waste hierarchy as one of the key principles of EU legislation.

The director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
is of Slovenian origin. He sent an open letter to the Slovenian parliament requesting to deny the state guarantee for a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for Unit 6 at the Sostanj lignite thermal power plant.

The European Commission’s proposed European Code of Conduct has the potential to become a major tool for securing effective partnership, transparency and public participation under the Cohesion Policy. This briefing contains recommendations to further support and realise this potential.

This briefing outlines a number of aspects that - if improved - would enhance the European Commission’s proposal on the future EU budget and maximize benefits for the regions delivered by the future Cohesion Policy while contributing to reach the 2020 climate, energy and biodiversity targets and creating green jobs.

For a bank tasked to contribute to the 'balanced and steady' development of the internal market in the interest of the EU, the EIB's figures for its financing operations in 2011 (released last month at its annual press conference) induced a certain amount of head-scratching here at Bankwatch Mail.

Encouraging developments related to the deployment of EU funds in Latvia for improving household energy efficiency have reached Bankwatch Mail from Latvian Green Movement, our member group based in Riga.

The European Commission is considering financial support for three new major municipal waste incinerator projects in the Czech Republic. The total cost for these projects is EUR 520 million and the projects have also requested a subsidy from the current Operational Programme for Environment (OPE) totalling EUR 184 million.

Now in its fourth edition, Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe's map of environmentally and socially harmful projects in central and eastern Europe being paid for by – or in line for – billions of euros of EU money has been launched at a crucial moment.