The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, called on the European Investment Bank on Monday 25 April to increase transparency in the projects it funds, either directly or through another EU bank.
The EIB is invited: - to publish project summaries in the language of the countries in which they take place; - to publish a list of its project documents that contain environmental information; - to make clear which projects relate to ‘environmental emissions’, as citizens have increased rights on these issues; - to indicate how it and the banks it may work with decide whether a project has a significant impact on the environment; - to publish the list of projects with a significant impact on the environment.
The Ombudsman also calls on the EIB to thoroughly review the way it deals with requests for access to documents.
These recommendations are the result of surveys conducted at the instigation of the three non-governmental organisations ClientEarth, Counter Balance and Bankwatch Network. “For too long the EIB has been allowed to hide in secrecy. It is time for the bank to stop hiding information and let the public verify that public money is invested in projects that are in the public interest”, said Xavier Sol, director of Counter Balance, in a statement.
More info at: https://aeur.eu/f/1cr (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)