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cee bankwatch network
friends of the earth international
amsterdam/prague, december 4, 2002
eib’s new information policy fails to
live up to expectations
After almost two years of preparations,
the European Investment Bank (EIB) quietly
released its new Information Policy in
November. The revised policy, however, is
being criticised by civil society
organisations as being only a slight
improvement over the previous one.
“It’s amazing how vague the new policy
is,“ says Magda Stoczkiewicz, EIB Campaign
Coordinator for Friends of the Earth and the
CEE Bankwatch Network. “With non-committal
phrases promising to release information
‘whenever possible’ and ‘as early as
feasible’, how is anyone going to enforce
public access? Such vague statements are even
more unbelievable considering that the EU,
whose members own the EIB, has signed on to
the Aarhus Convention and is preparing new
regulations on access to information.“
At the end of 2000, the EIB had announced
that it would begin working on revising its
information policy. Over the past two years,
non-governmental organisations offered input
and tried again and again to participate in
the policy review process. In June 2001, NGOs
presented detailed suggestions for change,
including a proposal for improving public
consultations. None of the recommendations,
however, made it into the Bank’s final
document.
Although the new policy contains some more
‘positive’ language, it is still biased in
favour of large corporate clients over the
interested public. For instance, the Bank
still reserves the right to withhold
information based on its so-called
‘obligation of professional secrecy’ and the
‘commercial interests’ of its public and
private clients.
“Under the old rules, neither communities
affected by EIB-financed projects nor
concerned NGOs were able to obtain any
project-related information. We are afraid
that the new rules won’t change this
situation,” Stoczkiewicz says, adding that
Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth “have
continuously asked for the Bank to disclose
all projects it is currently considering for
financing – a practice common in other
International Financial Institutions. The new
policy does not even touch that issue. After
a two-year review, we were hoping for more
than cosmetic changes.“
For further information contact:
Magda Stoczkiewicz, +31 20 622 13 69 or +31
652 41 03 23
magdas@foeeurope.org
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