By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Two environment watchdogs on Monday said European Union newcomers from central Europe were seeking the bloc's funds for regional development projects that could harm the environment.

Friends of the Earth Europe and CEE Bankwatch Network criticized 50 projects worth 22 billion euros ($32.6 billion), such as motorways or waste incinerators, for which the countries were seeking 10 billion euros in EU funding.

"If the money drives reckless developments and environmental destruction, its potential to deliver benefits is being wasted," said Martin Konecny, coordinator for EU funds at Friends of the Earth Europe.

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The organizations said the EU might deny the funds for these projects because they might not meet the bloc's environmental standards.

"We welcome the non-governmental organizations' involvement in this debate. We will look at the all projects ... once member states apply for EU funding," European Commission spokeswoman Eva Kaluzynska said.

The watchdogs highlighted three planned schemes they said would be especially harmful to the environment, dubbing them "RegioScars," a pun on the "RegioStars" projects lauded by the executive European Commission for being innovative.

The three schemes include a plan to build nine waste incinerators worth one billion euros in Poland.

"The plan ... will divert money from the much more needed and effective recycling services. This is unjustifiable at a time when Poland recycles merely 3 percent of its municipal waste," said Magda Stoczkiewicz from CEE Bankwatch Network.

Other projects are the Polish stretch of the Via Baltica expressway that is to link Warsaw and Helsinki through the Baltic states and the R52 expressway in the Czech Republic that is to link Brno and Vienna.

The Polish motorway is supposed to run through the northeastern region of Mazury known for clean lakes, large forests and wildlife. The Commission has already blocked the construction of a part of this road through the protected Rospuda Valley.

The environmental groups also questioned eight river engineering and other water management projects.

The EU has earmarked 167 billion euros in its 2007-13 budget for regional development schemes in the 10 mostly ex-communist countries that joined the bloc in 2004.

(Editing by Caroline Drees)