Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the latter's Directorate General for Environment, including the Commis-
sioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009, Stavros Dimas (from
Greece), who visited Bulgaria and pressed for respect of the public par-
ticipation guidelines of the Aarhus convention. European Members of
Parliament, particularly Dutch Green Party member Els de Groen, have
also advanced the interests of civic and environmental groups. Part of
the coalition's strategy has also been to encourage neighboring Greece
to pursue its interests through the EU. One could argue that the coalition
has been more effective at building its connections to transnational actors
and bringing transnational pressure to bear on the state than it has been
at mobilizing strong participation in actions at home, a pattern that is
not unique in postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe (Petrova and
Tarrow 2007, 88).
Besides bringing pressure to bear on the state from international
organizations, movement activists also have connections to the interna-
tional media. For the most part, the coalition has only been able to bring
these cases to the attention of the networks of transnational NGOs,
which increases pressure on the Bulgarian government only slightly. The
blockade and stabbing in Popintsi, followed by the president's visit,
however, threatened to attract attention beyond the Bulgarian media and
the transnational NGO network, and this potential was probably the
deciding factor in Euromax's pullout from the project.
In addition to mobilization strategies that aim to infl uence the Bulgar-
ian government's handling of cases in various capacities, local opponents
and their allies use direct action in arenas that infl uence the investor,
primarily international media and fi nancial institutions. Coalition efforts
to have the Chelopech and Krumovgrad projects added to Oxfam's
very visible “No Dirty Gold” campaign, as was the Rosia Montana
project in Romania, did not pan out. However, the movement and its
transnational allies have sought to pressure the companies through other
channels. In particular, the Bankwatch network has been vigilant
about tracking support for the projects (and other environmentally
risky projects in the postcommunist region) in international fi nancial
institutions. Bankwatch has engaged the European Bank for Reconstruc-
tion and Development repeatedly on its support for these projects.
Although Bankwatch recognized that the fi rst phase of the Chelopech
project focused on necessary remediation and improvement of produc-
tion processes, the network has been adamant about not extending
support to the second phase or to Dundee's plans for Krumovgrad (CEEB
2005; Popov 2008b). At this point the EBRD has not offered support
