With the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the process of selecting a new president, Bankwatch calls on the bank’s shareholders and new president to reassess some of its past - faulty - approaches.

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 briefing analyses the old Regulation on the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) (2007-2013) and compares it with the new proposal (2014-2020), with a specific focus on environmental protection and transparency/partnership principle. Since the regulation is not strong enough in neither of these two areas, we provide amendments to the regulation's articles. The briefing is a useful tool for advocating for better environmental protection and improvement of the public participation in decision making in the Western Balkan countries.

Following a fact-finding mission to Mongolia in June 2011, CEE Bankwatch sent a letter on August 18, 2011 with several questions for clarification to the EBRD. Additionally OT Watch submitted a paper on November 1, 2011 to representatives of the EBRD Board of Directors during their visit to Mongolia. While the EBRD replied to both of these, several issues still need clarification, as there is conflicting information.

The EBRD and the EIB are considering a loan of up to PLN 800 million to the Polish electricity utility ENEA to support a PLN 3.2 billion investment programme of the company's distribution network. Bankwatch's letter enquires what conditions will be placed on an EBRD loan to ENEA to make sure that the loan does not free the company's assets that it needs to invest in the Kozienice coal-fired unit number 11 in Poland.

A similar letter was sent to both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (pdf) and the European Investment Bank (pdf).

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.