Counter Balance raises concerns on control of infrastructure projects at European Parliament’s public hearing

Yesterday, Wednesday 20 April, Counter Balance intervened during a public hearing at the European Parliament on the “Control of projects and implementation of EU funds in the area of infrastructure and transport - effectiveness and problems". Organised by the Parliament Budgetary Control Committee chaired by Ingeborg Grässle, the hearing hosted among others representatives from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission, and companies involved in infrastructure projects.

As a coalition fully dedicated to monitoring the EIB in the Brussels landscape, Counter Balance offered an NGO perspective on the control and effectiveness of the infrastructure projects financed by the bank. Determined to promote a renewed role for public banks as key drivers toward socially and environmentally sustainable societies, we advocated for the enhancement of the EIB transparency and accountability mechanisms.

In particular, our intervention focused on cases such as the Passante di Mestre highway in Italy and the D4 R7 Bratislava Bypass in Slovakia in order to show practical examples of the EIB’s flaws with regard to its fraud and corruption policies, due diligence and governance issues. On the basis of this analysis, we presented specific recommendations to address those problems, especially underlining the urgent need for a reinforced scrutiny of the Parliament on the EIB.

Watch the hearing video here.

Click here to download our presentation.