Arab Watch Coalition among 23 NGOs: The EU public finance arm requires fundamental reforms
Ahead of the European Investment Bank (EIB)’s Board of Governors meeting on June 18, 2021, Arab Watch Coalition among 23 civil society organizations sent a letter edited and published by Counter-Balance, on June 14, to the European Finance Ministers to take immanent steps to reform the EIB’s whole structure and strategies.
In their correspondence with the EU Ministers, Civil Society call for a real shift of the EIB to a more open form and to adopt real reforms in all levels, with respect to the EU principles. The EIB needs to adopt more transparency, human right due diligence, climate adaptation and enhance its anti-corruption strategies.
The EU Finance Ministers represent 27 of the EIB’s shareholders and its Board of Governors, constitute an important role in decision-making regarding the bank’s policies and its core strategies. The Board of Governors’ annual meeting is key occasion to address crucial concerns related to the operations of the EU public finance arm, the EIB.
“The Bank needs to reinforce its due diligence at project level to ensure the projects it supports respect core values of EU external action and do not lead to Human Rights violations. Recent moves to push the EIB to be more active in the defense and security fields, as well as into migration management and border control, are not in line with the EIB’s primary missions and should not be part of the mandate of a socially and environmentally responsible lender;“