time to green the european bank
Today environmental and development groups
meet in London with representatives of the
European Investment Bank (EIB) in order to
discuss environment and development issues
related to the EIB operations. This is the
latest in a series of NGO-EIB consultations
held since 1995.
NGOs have been highly critical of the
EIB’s failure to embrace serious reforms,
starting with an open information policy. "I
have been working on EIB issues for the last
5 years" - stated Magda Stoczkiewicz, CEE
Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth
International campaigner - "in the last two
years the Bank finally accepted that a change
in the Institution is needed, however it is
more like painting the facade of a house
while the rooms inside are still dirty and
the roof is leaking. What we see is more PR
strategies than a real change".
The EIB is owned by the 15 EU Member
States with the UK, Germany, Italy and France
contributing biggest portion of the Bank's
capital. It is an institution of great
importance with its operations covering more
than 150 countries worldwide, having a
portfolio size bigger than the World Bank and
supporting controversial projects such as the
Chad-Cameroon pipeline in Africa or Lihir
gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
Founded in 1958 the EIB is the major
financing institution of the European Union
and should work within the remit of the EU
Treaties. “The EUB should be a leader in
complying with the principles of
representation, participation, public
accountability and sustainable development so
eloquently set out in various EU treaties,
directives and other official documents,”
said Stoczkiewicz. “Yet the EIB remains one
of the most untransparent international
financial institutions.”
During the last year NGOs have released a
series of reports and held Roundtables about
the EIB with decision makers and
parliamentarians around Europe. According to
those roundtables and reports the main areas
of change should be:
-
Full public access to all relevant
project information in a timely way.
-
Establishment of clear environmental
standards to underpin the EIB's role in
promoting the EU Sustainable Development
Strategy.
-
Acceptance by the EIB that it does have
a development mandate, and agreement on how
its activities outside the EU should be
carried out in a transparent way;
-
Greater supervision of the EIB,
including the roles of the European
Parliament, European Court of Auditors, and
the European Ombudsman, in order to promote
greater public accountability.
"For more than a year the EIB has been
reviewing its information policy, however
until now they did not released any new draft
policy which we could comment on" - said
Jaroslava Colajacomo from the Italian NGO
Campagna per la riforma della Banca mondiale.
"The EIB is not willing to make public any
information on projects it supports if their
promoters, usually private companies, oppose
it. Such assumption in favour of
non-disclosure of EIB documents is
unacceptable and breaches major international
recognised standards on access to
information. European citizens have a right
to know how their money is going to be
spent".
Full text of the statement can be
downloaded from the
www.bankwatch.org
Meeting venue: ETC Venues, 36 Park Street,
London
For further information contact:
Magda Stoczkiewicz,
magdas@foeeurope.org
, +31.20.622 1369 (from Tuesday on),
Jaroslava Colajacomo,
jaro@crbm.org
,
mobile: +39.338.327 9035
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