Some ways forward for the EBRD - NGO proposals for the EBRD Capital Resource Review 4

Even before the current economic crisis there were clear signs that the transition to a market economy in central and eastern Europe, which the EBRD is mandated to promote, is coming with a high social price tag attached. The EBRD's own survey on transition in 2007 - at the height of the boom times - included the alarming finding from 29,000 respondents across the region that trust in society had plummeted since 1989.

The economic crisis has added urgency to these findings, raising difficult questions for the EBRD about its role in the transition countries and the sustainability of the free market model it has been promoting for nearly two decades.

While there has been plenty of discussion about needing to learn lessons from the crisis, it is not yet clear what has concretely changed in the EBRDs operations. Bankwatch, supported by 45 other organisations, is requesting that any increase in the EBRD's capital is conditioned on improvements - laid out below - in the banks practices.