1.0Bankwatchhttps://bankwatch.blogactiv.euSven Haertig-Tokarzhttps://bankwatch.blogactiv.eu/author/bankwatch/<strong>On February 2, during the annual meeting between civil society and the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Board of Directors, the EIB revealed that the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was among its priority projects for 2015 in the Balkans.</strong><a href="#asterisk">[*]</a> <em>by Kuba Gogolewski, cross-posted from the <a href="http://bankwatch.org/news-media/blog/european-investment-bank-confirms-plans-finance-trans-adriatic-pipeline">Bankwatch blog</a></em> The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, planned to stretch from Greece via Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy, is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a chain of projects meant to bring natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz offshore gas field in Azerbaijan. The statement comes at a time when public criticism of the Southern Gas Corridor and its individual investment projects is increasingly showing the plans’ flaws. These range from creating an unnecessary and expensive <a href="http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/pipe-dreams-why-southern-gas-corridor-will-not-reduce-eu-d">surplus of gas import infrastructure</a>, to propping up an <a href="http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/azerbaijan-political-prisoners-list-published-reports-auth">undemocratic regime</a>, to the irony of <a href="http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/pipe-dreams-why-southern-gas-corridor-will-not-reduce-eu-d">financing the Russian company Lukoil</a> in order to reduce dependence on Russian gas. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) itself is also facing <a href="http://www.recommon.org/eng/ten-reasons-say-trans-adriatic-pipeline-tap/">heavy opposition in Italy</a>. In addition to the EIB’s support, the Southern Gas Corridor is set to be backed with public money via the Connecting Europe Facility, the Project Bonds Initiative, and indirectly via a loan by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Lukoil for the second phase of developments at Shah Deniz, a loan set to be approved in early 2015. It is one of the most important projects on the EU list of <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/infrastructure/projects-common-interest">Projects of Common Interest</a> which are to receive political and financial backing in the following period. - <a name="asterisk"></a> * Other discussion points on the meeting’s agenda were the EIB’s <a href="http://bankwatch.org/bwmail/61/eight-things-give-eibs-forthcoming-climate-policy-meaning-purpose-and-ambition">climate</a> and <a href="http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/eib-set-weaken-transparency-standards">transparency</a> policies.rich