by Goska Romanowicz
11-04-06
The EU is encouraging dirty energy production by
funding oil pipelines and fossil fuel power stations in the Balkans, an
international group of NGOs said.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is one Balkan country with important hydropower potential.
Current and planned fossil fuel and pipeline projects across south-east Europe
will consume at least $ 18 bn in funds, much of it coming from International
Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and the World Bank, the Bankwatch NGO network said.
The EU plays an important role in perpetuating the region's dirty energy
trends by funding projects such as the Thessaloniki-Skopje pipeline through the
EBRD, Ana Colovic of Bankwatch Macedonia told.
"The Balkan region has an important transit role for oil and gas from the East.
It is very disappointing to see the EBRD still stuck on financing projects like
the Thessaloniki-Skopje pipeline. A different policy from the EU could change
the direction of energy policy in the Balkans. Macedonia, like other candidates
for EU accession, is very keen to join the Union and local government policy is
strongly influenced by EU trends," she said.
The EU had established a framework for closer energy ties with Balkan
countries with the Energy Community Treaty in October 2005 -- a "pre-accession
tool" aiming to extend European energy, environmental and renewables policies to
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia,
Romania, Bulgaria and Kosovo.
Bankwatch argues that current EU policy is not putting these goals into action,
but instead encouraging dirty energy production in the region by buying it for
internal EU use as well as by funding infrastructure.
Zvezdan Kalmar of Serbian group Centre for Ecology and Sustainable
Development said: "Most of the [IFI-funded] projects comprise transit
infrastructure or power stations for exporting dirty energy to the EU, putting
south-east Europe's people and environment at risk for the sake of low energy
prices, and blatantly contradicting political statements on combating climate
change."
The Balkans region holds the record for the worst energy efficiency in Europe,
and at the same time has significant wind, hydropower and biomass potential,
according to EBRD's own assessments.
On a visit to Bulgaria this month, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas
acknowledged the need for better energy efficiency in the region: "There is
great potential to improve energy efficiency, which translates into cost
savings," he told an audience at a Bulgarian university.
Meanwhile, although both the World Bank and the EBRD have said they will not
finance new nuclear projects, there are fears that the controversial Belene
nuclear power station in Bulgaria will receive funding on the grounds that work
on it has already started, and that therefore it is not strictly new.
"The government is convincing people that it will be able to get money to
continue work on Belene nuclear power station from IFIs," said Ana Colovic.
A map of "dirty energy projects" published this month can be accessed on the
Bankwatch website.
Source: www.edie.net