News

MEPs approve plans for EBRD support to Arab Spring economies

14-06-2012

The European Parliament (EP) has approved plans for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to extend its activities to Southern and Eastern Mediterranean in the wake of last year's Arab Spring. 
 
"The European Parliament is serious about assisting democratic transition in post Arab Spring countries,” said EP President Schulz, who also chairs the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean until March 2013, commenting on the adoption of the report extending the geographic scope of the Bank.
 
“For democracy to succeed in the region, we need a real prospect of shared prosperity. In the difficult economic juncture Europe is facing, all forces, institutions and available instruments must be mobilised to make the transition successful,” said the EP President adding “The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with its strong record and expertise, has a key role to play in matching investment projects with governments' priorities."
 
Bulgarian MEP Slavi Binev, responsible for steering the plans through Parliament, says the EBRD had a role to play in helping Arab Spring countries transit to free-market democracies. “The task of the EBRD is to support democratic transition and open market economies so that offshoots of totalitarian regimes don't get any European financing.” (EU Neighbourhood Info)
 
Read more
 
EP Press release
 
Interview with MEP Slavi Binev
 
EBRD fact sheet – The EBRD’s activities in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region
 
EBRD launches Transition to Transition Initiative, a supportive framework for the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED)
 
The EU's response to the Arab Spring 
 
Interview with Marcus Cornaro - The EU and the Arab Spring: helping a new generation build a new society


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