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These EU citizens have better ideas for EU funds
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Our competition for ideas for EU funds investments that benefit the sustainable development of European communities could offer inspiration for EU and national decision makers. At the final award ceremony in Brussels, the winners told us about their...
BREAKING: The EU budget important stuff takes place outside the Brussels negotiating room, and Europeans should have a say
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Live from the EU budget negotiations in Brussels ... Blog author: Markus Trilling read more...
Time to iron out the EU budget differences - with a green shirt!
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The EU budget summit, the much-anticipated showdown featuring Europe’s 27 member states, the European Parliament, the European Commission and European Council president Herman van Rompuy over how much EU funding – and for what – is to be spent...
EU budget update: Are Europe's leaders serious about taking the green shirt off all of our backs?
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With a key EU summit one month away, how do things currently stand with the tortuous, plate tectonic-esque EU budget 2014-2020 negotiations? Author name: Greig Aitken...
When loyalty blocks climate action - Polish parliament pledges allegiance
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The Polish government has a sad reputation for adopting unilateral, even obscure approaches when it comes to our country’s energy policy. What now came as a very disappointing surprise is that the Polish parliament joined the opportunistic chorus o...
Video: Notes for a better Europe
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European spending is often considered unnecessary, beaurocratic, and even damaging. We're the last ones to deny that in Bankwatch. Yet, we are convinced that EU spending - if it is done right - can truly serve the public interest by creating jobs, r...
EU budget negotiations: a zero-sum game?
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The seven-year EU budget could unlock investment and jobs, but only if the shadow-boxing around the negotiating table ends now. Institution: EU Funds...
Continued EU budget battle could sacrifice clean energy investments and clog economic recovery
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Continued debates about a reduction of the future EU budget jeopardise the potential of using EU funds for energy efficiency and renewables investments to provide necessary economic stimulus and climate mitigation.
Another success against Czech incinceration, government in blissful ignorance
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The putting on hold (for now) of another waste incinerator project confirms a negative assessment of the Czech Republic's performance in waste management. And still, the Czech government fails to grasp that the only properly sustainable way forward i...
Ignorance is bliss - the Czech government and sustainable waste management
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Another waste incinerator project having been neutralised (for now) confirms a negative assessment of the Czech Republic's performance in waste management. Still, the country has not yet recognised that the only properly sustainable way forward is in...
The devil in the details: Europe's low-carbon economy dream
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The increasing popularity of a 'low-carbon economy' rhetoric calls for robust assessments of the carbon intensity of EU funded projects. Otherwise the potential that lies in the concept may get diluted by conflicting interests.
Fossil fuels rebranded as low-carbon also in Cohesion Policy discussions
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Discussions in the European Parliament on the next Cohesion Policy have seemingly been taken hostage by fossil fuel friendly interests - once again with Poland taking the lead. Poland...
Poland rejects EU money for jobs and energy independence at Environment Council
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Poland's veto against increasing Europe's 2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions cuts to 25% is frustrating not only environmentalists in Poland and elsewhere. Poland...
Polish energy companies' black propaganda threatens EU climate ambitions again
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Poland is on course to place further large roadblocks in the way of the European Commission's Roadmap 2050 towards a low-carbon economy unless certain demands being insisted on by Warsaw are met. These include the granting of free allowances for all...
The struggle for a green Cohesion Policy has only just begun
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While the potential of green investments is undeniable, statements from EU decision makers don’t paint the rosiest picture for a climate friendly Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. December 1, 2011...
There you have it: Green investments do create jobs
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A study from the Czech Republic vividly confirms the positive economic impact of public support schemes for energy efficiency investments. The future Cohesion Policy can offer valuable stimuli for such schemes – if EU Member States set the right pr...
Five ways to bring Cohesion Policy closer to citizens
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By allowing open and inclusive consultations on the future Cohesion Policy, Latvia is not only devising its national position in a more democratic way than other EU Member States. It is also setting an example for actually getting people interested i...
The day renewable energy was killed in the Czech Republic
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The Czech renewable energy industry last week received a strong blow from our very own Parliament which approved measures that will likely smother the sector in a bill ironically entitled the „Renewable energy sources support bill.”...
What's the real danger for Cohesion Policy: wrong accounting or wrong results?
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The proper financial management of EU funds is important to avoid fraud and illegitimate spending. Yet more important is the quality of the funded projects. November 10, 2011...
Right track, weak attitude. The EU's Resource Efficiency Roadmap.
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The European Commission this week published its ideas on how to build a resource efficient economy in Europe. Bankwatch's resource efficiency expert Marijan Galovic thinks the roadmap's focus is not wide enough yet.
