BW Mail 59

During last month's EBRD annual meeting in Warsaw, Bankwatch Mail convened a discussion about the state of the Polish economy between a financial journalist and a sociologist – both residents of the Polish capital – to hear their views on some of the pressing economic issues of the day, as well as the ongoing Polish 'transition' process. With the 25th anniversary of the end of communist rule in Poland a few months away now (today in fact marks a quarter of a century since the first Polish elections under communism), what have been the achievements and the lessons to be learned from the last two and half decades?

Twenty years of limited – if not downright poor – transitional progress has demonstrated the inability of European and global institutions to effectively impact development processes in Ukraine.

New analysis from CEE Bankwatch Network of how the EBRD conducts its financing and economic advisory activities finds serious deficiencies in the bank's overall 'market-oriented' approach and catalogues a range of startling EBRD interventions in central and eastern Europe (CEE) and further afield that should prompt deeper examination of the bank's promotional mantra “We invest in changing lives”.

The EBRD's board of directors is expected, on the eve of the bank's annual meeting in Warsaw, to approve new 'good governance' policies that will have significant bearing on the institution's future activities. The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy, its Public Information Policy and the Rules of Procedure for the EBRD Project Complaints Mechanism have been the feature of multi-stakeholder consultations across the EBRD's regions of operation in 2013 and into 2014.

What began as research into Serinus Energy EBRD loans that were granted to the company in July 2013 for the exploration and expansion of oil and gas fields in the Chouech Essaida, Ech Chouech, Sabria, Sanrhara and Zinnia concessions in Tunisia, has become a story that reflects both the revolving doors culture that permeates elite circles and how the EBRD is able to provide loans that provide absolutely no additionality.

Local community and NGO pressure has been making things rather difficult of late for the largest planned new coal-fired power plant in Europe.

Coal power plants are mushrooming all over Turkey, there’s no doubt about that. With the government’s plan to reach 120,000 MW of installed capacity by 2023, double that of today, a 1350 MW power plant in the already heavily industrialised and polluted peninsula of Aliaga in western Turkey could easily have gone unnoticed.

Last year saw international financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank falling like dominoes one after the other and announcing in rapid succession that they will halt – almost totally – financing for new coal power plants. These banks were also joined by other institutions such as the US Exim Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank, and governments including the US, UK, Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.

Back in early February this year, workers at several privatised companies started protesting in Tuzla. The workers expressed outrage at how factory owners were not paying social security contributions, thus making their employees no longer eligible for health care, social security or pensions.

Tomasz Zdrojewski explains the risks to Polish water from the massively hyped fossil fuel bonanza.