Mopani mining project — EIB criteria for granting loans
17.5.2011
Question for written answer E-005119/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Jean-Luc Bennahmias (ALDE)
I have been approached by Friends of the Earth and the Counter Balance coalition of NGOs, which were the co-authors of a report published in February 2011 concerning a mining project in Mopani, Zambia, that received a loan of EUR 48 million from the European Investment Bank in February 2005.
The report raises numerous questions about the project, which has had a major environmental and social impact and given rise to dubious tax practices. More specifically, the mining project has caused massive air pollution and regular water contamination and had an adverse social impact, including on employees’ working conditions, while contributing little to the Zambian budget and generating strong suspicions of tax evasion.
Bearing in mind that the EIB’s brief is to give priority to supporting projects that contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development, that the Commission intends, as part of its Raw Materials Initiative, to ask the EIB to increase its loans to the mining sector in Africa, and that Parliament now enjoys co-decision powers in respect of the EIB’s external mandate:
- 1.what is the Commission’s response to the observations made in the report?
- 2.how does the EIB assess the economic, social, environmental and fiscal impact of the projects for which it awards loans? Are these assessments transparent and accessible to all?
- 3.how does the EIB carry out ex post verification of the use of its loans and the impact of co-financed projects?
OJ C 365 E, 15/12/2011