CEE Bankwatch Network

2026 could reshape accountability in public finance

🔎 Several international financial institutions are reviewing their accountability mechanisms & safeguard policies. Decisions made this year will shape access to remedy & standards for years to come.

New analysis 🔗 www.linkedin.com/pulse/2026-c...

🌐If the EU is to lead on global development, its bank must do more than just talk about it. EIB Global must ensure transparency, human rights safeguards and alignment with EU values across all its global operations.
✉️Read our letter to the @eib.org Board: bankwatch.org/wp-content/u...

From just transition to competitive decarbonisation: What the EU’s new policy architecture means for regional cohesion - Bankwatch This report investigates the main objectives and instruments of this new policy shift and how it affects the EU’s just transition regions.

3/3 As budget negotiations advance, we call on the European Commission, Member States, and the European Parliament to embed territorial prioritisation and social safeguards at the core of the new budget.

Read our report for more details: bankwatch.org/publication/...

2/3 Our briefing shows that with current focus on competitiveness and innovation and without a strong territorial dimension, just transition regions are at risk of being sidelined.

1/3 With the Clean Industrial Deal and European Competitiveness Fund, the European Commission is reshaping EU climate policy for the next long-term budget. 💶

But what does it mean for just transition regions?

bankwatch.org/publication/...

CC: @euronatur.bsky.social

[Tomorrow] Last chance to register for our webinar on the future of the EU’s LIFE programme.

What’s next for Europe’s flagship nature programme?
Join our webinar to learn if we can still save LIFE! 🌱

➡️ Register now: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Ripple Effects Toolkit: How local actors can drive change from the ‘in-between’ We invite you to co-create, test, and experiment with the Ripple Effects Toolkit, which builds on our experience of working in the space between individual action and wider institutional change. We ar...

📌 Dates: 17 and 31 March at 11 CET.
👉 Register here: sharedgreendeal.eu/events/rippl...

Ripple Effects Toolkit: How local actors can drive change from the ‘in-between’ We invite you to co-create, test, and experiment with the Ripple Effects Toolkit, which builds on our experience of working in the space between individual action and wider institutional change. We ar...

Are you working to drive change on the ground, but looking for practical tools to support achieving impact?

Join a special online workshop to test and experiment with a new toolkit: The Ripple Effects Toolkit – How local actors can drive change from the ‘in-between’.

Over the past 10 years, the @eib.org has provided Ukraine with EUR 400 million to modernise its urban public transport system. The EIB Forum is a good opportunity to review progress and think about what could be done better.
Read the briefing to find out more: bankwatch.org/publication/...

The EU’s LIFE programme has funded thousands of nature protection and restoration projects for more than 30 years.

But now its existence is under threat.

Join our panel discussion to get to know more about the achievements of LIFE and to get insights into the future of nature financing.

Sign up ⬇️

[Latest podcast episode 🚨] Listen to Juraj Melichár discussing Slovakia’s progress in developing its national social climate plan.
We also examine Slovakia’s reluctance to introduce the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS2) for buildings and road transport.
🎧 Tune in: open.spotify.com/episode/0kC9...

Damming the Drina: Death by 1000 cuts | Stop Buk Bijela YouTube video by Bankwatch

3/3 Watch our video ‘Damming the Drina: Death by 1000 cuts’: Damming the Drina: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS3Q...

Don’t look, don’t find: Buk Bijela’s ‘environmental impact assessment’ - Bankwatch Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Upper Drina hydropower scheme would turn 30 kilometres of this iconic river into stagnant reservoirs and cut a key Danube Salmon habitat into pieces. Its largest dam would be ...

2/2 A new environmental impact assessment for Buk Bijela is now open for public consultation. And it does everything possible to downplay the damage.
Read our new story by @pippagallop.bsky.social: bankwatch.org/story/don-t-...

🛑 Say NO to Buk Bijela.
#StopBukBijela

1/2 The Buk Bijela hydropower plant is one of dozens planned on the Upper Drina and its tributaries. It raises serious environmental, legal, and financial 🚩.
The project would turn 30 km of the Upper Drina river into stagnant reservoirs and endanger the Danube salmon population.

Bridging the gap: Financing national nature restoration plans - Bankwatch This briefing provides information to national authorities on how they can best use current and future EU funds to finance their restoration plans.

🧵 2/2 ✅ We’ve outlined current approaches and limitations to EU biodiversity financing.
✅ We've explained how EU funds can be used to #RestoreNature.

Check out our briefing: bankwatch.org/publication/...

1/2 A year and a half after the official adoption of historic Nature Restoration Law, EU countries are drafting their restorations plans.
But how does nature restoration look in practice? Who will pay and how? 💶

CC: @euronatur.bsky.social, @rasmusnordqvist.bsky.social, @evelynunderwood.bsky.social,

Biodiversity is in crisis. To protect and restore nature, we need more funding. Yet the LIFE programme – the EU’s only fund dedicated to nature – has been axed from the next EU budget proposal.

💡 Join our webinar and gain expert insights.

👉 Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Decisions regarding heating systems, transport, infrastructure, land use, and public investment affect everyday life.

Our new briefing offers insights from 9 CEE countries where citizens’ forums have been tested as a tool for involving local voices in decision-making: bankwatch.org/publication/...

cc: @foodwatereurope.bsky.social

2/2 The recent announcement by the U.S. administration and 12 CEE countries of plans to increase imports of U.S. LNG and new gas infrastructure buildout could end up being a classic shoot-yourself-in-the-foot moment for the region’s energy transition and security.
More: bankwatch.org/press_releas...

1/ Europe is changing the dealer, but keeping the addiction.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU was 44% dependent on Russia for its gas supplies. Four years later, the U.S. is well on track to become Europe’s largest gas supplier, overtaking Norway.

bankwatch.org/press_releas...

CC: @greenlibertylv.bsky.social

Deregulation endangers Latvia’s forests - Bankwatch Over the last year and half, the Latvian government has proposed multiple amendments to national environmental policies, often under the guise of ‘reducing administrative burdens’. But while simplifyi...

2/ These forests must protect biodiversity, not only generate profit.

Now is the time to speak up before short-term political decisions cause irreversible environmental damage.

👉Read Kristīne Ketrina Putniņa’s latest blog post: bankwatch.org/blog/deregul...

@greenlibertylv.bsky.social

1/ A worrying wave of environmental deregulation is sweeping the EU, threatening laws that protect nature.

In Latvia, proposed policy changes – framed as ‘reducing administrative burdens’ – could open vast forest areas to significantly increased logging. bankwatch.org/blog/deregul...

🚨 New podcast episode! The realities of housing, energy poverty and homelessness in a changing EU.
We discuss: progress of Member States in developing their national social climate plans, how they prioritise housing solutions, and who receives the most support.
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/0kC9...

Uzbekistan: “Farmers Have No Freedom" Joint report by Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum for Human Rights The report documents the hardships, pressure, intimidation, and threats faced by farmers in Uzbekistan today, based on dozens of cases from different regions of the country.

📽️ A new report @uzbekforum.bsky.social & @hrw.org documents the hardships, pressure, intimidation, and threats faced by #cotton & wheat farmers in #Uzbekistan today.
These six farmers tell their stories:
bit.ly/4rxuYjK

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: LIFE programme for nature: Three decades of impact, one uncertain future. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar... The EU’s LIFE programme has funded thousands of nature protection and restoration projects for more than 30 years. But is there place for LIFE programme in the next EU budget? Join our panel discuss...

2/2 Is there a place for LIFE in the next EU budget?
What does the future of nature financing hold?
Join our webinar guests to find out! 💡
👉 Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

1/2 [Coming soon] Tackling the biodiversity crisis should be a top priority.

The EU’s LIFE programme has contributed to thousands of successful environmental protection projects for over 30 years. But now its existence is under threat.

us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...