Some great news concerning past and future sustainable hydropower developments in Bulgaria - the Yadenitsa dam case

From EIB:


We refer to your messages of 9 March and 4 May 2019 to the European
Investment Bank (EIB) inquiring about EIB's potential involvement in
the Yadenitsa dam in Bulgaria.

As communicated in our message of 26 November 2018, the EIB has not
been involved nor formally approached to finance this project. This is
still the case up to date.

As we further explained, all projects considered for EIB financing are
subject to stringent due diligence. Information on a project that is
being considered for financing by the EIB will be listed on the EIB's
website [1] - we encourage you to kindly refer to this Project List
for relevant updates.

We hope you find this information useful and remain at your disposal
should you need any further clarifications.

Yours sincerely,
EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK

Corporate Responsibility Department

General Secretariat


From: Balkanka
Sent: Saturday 04 May 2019 10:42
To: EIB Civil Society Division
Subject: Fwd: Some great news concerning past and future sustainable
hydropower developments in Bulgaria - the Yadenitsa dam case



Dear friends,

Hereby, I would like to kindly remind you about a communication from
Balkanka Association dated 09.03.2019, in an attempt to trace any
possible support by the EU financial institutions for the highly
controversial Yadenitsa dam in Bulgaria. The previous communication is
attached to this e-mail.

The EBRD management was so kind to inform us about a month ago that
they have nothing to do with the project at all, currently and in the
future.

Therefore, since we received no answer about any possible involvement
of EIB in the Yadenitsa project so far, I personally find it possible
that your bank may somehow be involved.

Therefore, please find in the following links three very important
documents holding information about huge infringements of EU Law
committed by the BG authorities during the authorization of the false
project's EIA/AA reports.

There is also a description of the huge seismic risk for the new dam,
confirmed by a statement of the Institute of Geophysics at the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, we figure every financial institution
possibly involved should be aware of. It is a matter not only of a
reputational and/or financial risk, but of social risk assessment and
responsibility for the villages and cities below the risky dam as
well.

Here is the original complaint lodged with DG ENV about the Yadenitsa dam case:
https://dams.reki.bg/uploads/Docs/Files/EU_COMPLAINT_ANNEX_5_DRAFT2.pdf

In the next document the project implications on a Rila Bufer Habitats
& Birds Directive sites in Bulgaria are discussed in the light of
several Decisions of the European Court of Justice:

https://dams.reki.bg/uploads/Docs/Files/EU_COMPLAINT_ANNEX_5_A%20DRAFT3.pdf

Finally, some additional information and new evidence concerning the
huge seismic risk can be found in section A. on page 6 of the
following document:

https://dams.reki.bg/uploads/Docs/Files/EU_COMPLAINT_ANNEX_6_DRAFT3.pdf

We also had a long communication with EU INEA and DG ENV of the
European Commission. At a meeting held in Sofia in the end of March,
DG ENV representatives declared they have released their own negative
assessment of the Yadenitsa project too.

Still, if the EIB is not currently involved in the Yadenitsa dam
project, or will not be in the future, then reading the attached
documents will not be necessary.

Sorry for having all of you bothered over the issue again, but you
didn't answer and together we cannot take any chances in case the EIB
is involved somehow, can we?

If you read the attached documents you will get to know why.
Kind regards

Balkanka Association, Sofia, Bulgaria