A group of 39 international NGOs sent a letter to the Directors of the World Bank (WB) today urging the Bank not to finance the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP). TANAP is the Eastern part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a 3500 kilometres-long chain of gas pipelines from Azerbaijan to Europe.
The WB Directors will consider on December 20th a loan to the Turkish company Botas for the construction of the pipeline.
This report analyses how and if the European Investment Bank (EIB) is fulfilling its development role under the so-called External Lending Mandate (ELM) for the period 2014-2020. It sheds light on the more questionable quality and effectiveness of EIB operations and on the neglected areas of the bank’s performance outside Europe, such as transparency and access to information practices, its attitude towardstax evasion and tax dodging, human rights due diligence.
The EIB is increasingly given a prominent role in the EU’s response to the so-called refugee crisis stretching the bank’s operations well beyond its current mandate for overseas investments. Yet, a new report by Counter Balance and CEE Bankwatch Network takes a closer look at projects the EU’s house bank has been financing outside Europe to find a dismal track record on a range of issues from transparency to human rights. This, the report authors say, should serve as a warning sign for the European Parliament and Council as they consider boosting the bank’s mandate.
The Azerbaijani government’s relentless repression of civil society should disqualify the country from participating in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), 18 international groups wrote in a letter sent on Thursday (October 20) to members of the EITI board.
With construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey getting under way, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium awarding contracts for the construction of access infrastructure in Albania, and Russian pipeline plans lagging behind, the Southern Corridor for Azerbaijan's gas exports to Europe is increasingly looking like a done deal. Or at least that is what the project promoters would have us believe.
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