Counter Balance - Counter Balance

[Press releases] Ethiopia’s newest dam suffers tunnel collapse days after inauguration

5 February 2010

Rome, Italy -- A critical water-passage tunnel in the newly inaugurated Gilgel Gibe 2 hydropower project in Ethiopia reportedly collapsed this week.

With a price tag of EUR 374 million and a capacity of 420 megawatts, Gilgel Gibe 2 is currently Ethiopia’s biggest power plant. The project channels the water discharged from the Gilgel Gibe 1 Dam through a long tunnel and a steep drop directly to the valley of the Omo River.

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[Policy letters] Do we need another multilateral development bank controlled by Europe?

1 February 2010

Eurodad and Counter Balance submission to the Wise Persons Panel

Civil society organisations have engaged with the Wise Persons Panel in the past few months. On 28th January Eurodad and Counter Balance sent a submission to the Panel, which is currently finalising its recommendations for the European Council and the Parliament.

Download position paper here

[Events] Desperately Seeking ... Poverty Eradication, Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development! November 18-19 Conference Conclusions

28 December 2009

Why major reforms are needed in the new EIB external lending mandate.

“Major structural reforms needed,” concludes civil society after Counter Balance's 2-day November conference in Brussels on the European Investment Bank and its role in development.

Civil society was invited to the European Parliament on November 19, 2009, to present its findings and demands to host MEPs: Gabi Zimmer (GUE-NGL), Sven Giegold (Greens–EFA) and Thijs Berman (S&D). Civil society’s input was warmly welcomed by the MEPs as an invaluable source of information to support the necessary changes to the EIB's external lending mandate due to be debated at the parliament in 2010.

[Reports] RDC Grand Inga Dam is Conrad’s Nightmare - The World’s Biggest Dam and Development’s Heart of Darkness

27 November 2009

"Under the guise of bringing power to poor Africans, development banks are looking to put tens of billions of public money into a flight of fantasy that would only benefit huge Western multinationals and quite possibly feed African energy into European households," said Anders Lustgarten, Counter Balance /Bretton Woods Project (UK), which scrutinises the World Bank and IMF.

This is the story of what may be the world’s largest dam, an $80 billion, 40,000 megawatt (MW) megalith in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) called Grand Inga, and the oddities that surround it: not least the 6,000km long electrical transmission line that would be built through the tropical rainforest, across the Sahara Desert and Darfur, through Egypt and the Mediterranean to bring the electricity to its destination—not poor Africans, but wealthy European consumers.
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[Press releases] Just like Haven? European Investment Bank illicit financial flows through tax havens

27 November 2009

Watch our lastest cartoon on youtube

Our campaign on EIB loans enabling Tax Havens was launched last May.

You may find our Investigative report attached.

[Press releases] Ugandan citizens' complaint against EUR 95 million EIB loan for Bujagali Hydropower Dam

25 November 2009

The Bujagali Hydropower Project is a 250-megawatt power-generating facility developed by Bujagali Energy Limited, a joint venture between Kenya-based Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, and US-based Sithe Global Power, with construction by Italy’s Salini.

Following the findings of a field mission in Uganda in April 2009, the European coalition Counter Balance, in collaboration with Human Rights lawyers of Sherpa (France) and CLAI (Italy) has been supporting the Ugandan local communities, lead by the Ugandan National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) in gathering evidences in order to file a complaint against the European Investment Bank, following the successful outcome of the complaint filed against the World Bank through the independent World Bank Inspection Panel (1).
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[Events] "The European Investment Bank - ready for development?" - conference organised by Counter Balance coalition

24 September 2009

The NGO coalition Counter Balance - Challenging the European Investment Bank is pleased to invite you to a conference on "The European Investment Bank – ready for development?" on November 18-19, 2009, Brussels, Belgium

The conference aims to initiate a practical discussion about the point of view, role and responsibilities of the EU institutions during the development of the new EIB external lending mandate.

If you would like to attend the conference, please fill in the online CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM. (DEADLINE: 10th November 2009)
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[Press releases] Counter Balance asks the EIB to do more and soon on cracking down tax havens

25 August 2009

“The European Investment Bank (EIB) new interim policy towards offshore financial centres (OFCs) announced today is a first step in the right direction”, says Counter Balance spokesman – member of the Italian Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale, Antonio Tricarico. “Unfortunately it is also insufficient to tame the gigantic tax elusion of transnational business”.
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[Press releases] Report : "Flying in the face of development. How European Investment Bank loans enable tax havens"

15 July 2009

The Counter Balance coalition is proud to release the first ever published in-depth analysis of the European Investment Bank loans for development projects to borrowers using tax evasion & tax avoidance schemes. The report has been commissioned by the Counter Balance coalition to Eurodad policy analyst Marta Ruiz.

[Video] "I want money!" - action on EIB loans to companies registered in tax havens

16 June 2009

How is it that an institution with an explicit mandate to promote development in the global South is financing companies who purposefully weasel out of paying revenues to the world's poorest governments, while extracting their natural resources and disrupting the livelihoods of local communities?
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[Citizens' Letter] EIB & Tax Haven campaign letter to EIB Governor

9 June 2009

NGOs from across Europe rallied today in front of the Council of the EU in Brussels with a strong demand to the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU's 'bank' – STOP PROVIDING LOANS TO TAX HAVEN-BASED MULTINATIONALS. Concerned citizen present at the scene were asked to send a letter to the EIB Governors of their country. Here is the letter template.

[Press releases] Action Rally on EIB & Tax Haven: EIB Loans for Companies in Tax Havens Severely impact the have nots'

9 June 2009

Brussels, Belgium – NGOs from across Europe rallied today in front of the Council of the EU in Brussels with a strong demand to the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU's 'bank' – STOP PROVIDING LOANS TO TAX HAVEN-BASED MULTINATIONALS.
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[Press releases] The Smoke and Mirrors of the EIB - on Gibe 3 Dam (Ethiopia)

5 June 2009

Clarification on the European Investment Bank’s role in Ethiopia’s Gibe 3 Dam

A statement issued June 4 by the European Investment Bank contradicts a June 3 announcement made to Friends of Lake Turkana that the Bank had withdrawn its consideration of the Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia. The June 4 statement is consistent with the Bank’s efforts to conduct its operations on Gibe 3 and other controversial projects behind smoke and mirrors.

[Press releases] NGOs successfully stop EIB from financing Gilgel Gibe 3 dam in Ethiopia

4 June 2009

In response to civil society’s pressure, the EIB announced yesterday its decision to not finance the Gilgel Gibe 3 dam in Ethiopia.

The 240 meters high dam project threatens the food security of up to half a million people, mostly tribal marginalised communities both in Kenya and Ethiopia. Moreover, it would destroy the Omo Valley environment, internationally known and recognised for its great biodiversity.
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[Publications] The Long Struggle for Accountability of IFIs – the case of the EIB and the World Bank

27 May 2009

The EIB just launched a public consultation on its Complaints Mechanism Policy, Public Disclosure Policy and Transparency Policy. A time to look back at how Civil Society's pressure has enforced changes at the EU House-Bank and the World Bank as well as to look forward to further improve both institutions.
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