CEE Bankwatch Network today criticised the European Investment Bank (EIB) for adopting a new transparency policy that persists in keeping the final destination of billions of publicly backed money unknown to the public.

Information on loans from commercial banks across Europe, that have received credit lines from the EIB, to final beneficiaries such as small- and medium-sized companies, public authorities, mid-companies, investments funds or equity funds remains unobtainable to the public, under the EIB's new transparency policy signed off this week by the bank's directors. This type of lending is a central - and growing - plank of the EIB's economic crisis response.

Anna Roggenbuck, Bankwatch's EIB Campaign coordinator, said: “The EIB's unwillingness to permit just a chink of light on its lending through financial intermediaries is symptomatic of the new policy as a whole. If one of the lessons of the economic crisis is the need for greater transparency in the financial system, then the message has not got through to the EU's bank.”

Corridor Vc motorway, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Bosnian section of the international Corridor Vc is planned to run for 330 km from Svilaj on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s northern border with Croatia, to the southern border with Croatia near Ljubuski. Both the EBRD and the EIB are financing sections of the motorway construction.

If realised as planned, the motorway threatens the planned Prenj-Cvrsnica-Cabulja National Park near Sarajevo, two sites of cultural heritage - Pocitelj and Blagaj - and also scarce arable land, which triggered protests by local people.

The controversy over the motorway's route recently even sparked a government crisis and a series of scandals (involving accusations of land speculation and corruption), resulting in the resignation of the Federal Minister for Spatial Planning.

Read more on the project and the IFIs involvement.