EU risks fallout with US over Trump-linked Balkans pipeline plan | Bosnia and Herzegovina

The EU risks a confrontation with Trump after it tried to stop the award of a lucrative Balkans pipeline contract to a company led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

Brussels has clashed with Trump over trade, Ukraine and military spending, but interference in the Southern Link pipeline project appears to mark the first time he has challenged a business initiative by people close to the president.

The pipeline will pass through Bosnia-Herzegovina. Under months of pressure from U.S. officials, its leaders are moving quickly to award the contract to a previously little-known company based in Wyoming, Bosnian sources said.

AAFS Infrastructure and Energy was founded in November last year and has not disclosed its owners. He is fronted by two prominent members of Trump’s campaign to overturn his 2020 election defeat: attorney Jesse Binnall, who defended him against allegations that he incited the Capitol riots after his defeat, and Joe Flynn, brother of the president’s former national security adviser.

Despite having no apparent track record, AAFS plans to invest $1.5 billion in the pipeline and other infrastructure projects in Bosnia. local representative said.

In March, lawmakers approved legislation Transparency International cited It will set a “dangerous precedent” stipulating that the contract must go to AAFS without a tender.

Days later, Brussels’ representative in Sarajevo issued a specific warning to Bosnian leaders that they were jeopardizing the country’s hopes of joining the EU.

EU official Luigi Soreca wrote in a letter obtained by Bosnian research institution istraga.ba on April 13 and reviewed by the Guardian that “it is vital that the draft laws are fully coordinated” with the EU within the scope of the energy agreement signed between Bosnia and Brussels.

Soreca said Brussels should have a say in pipeline legislation. “In this way, Bosnia and Herzegovina can continue to move towards Europe and avoid missing out on financial opportunities as well as opportunities for further integration,” he said.

Binnall said the pipeline is “a priority for the Trump administration.” When asked about the EU’s involvement, he said: “AAFS will never lose sight of what really matters in this project: ensuring energy security and supporting the economic development of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are committed to working closely with all relevant authorities to develop the infrastructure needed to make this vision a reality.”

The pipeline would connect Bosnia to a liquefied natural gas terminal off the coast of Croatia, allowing U.S. gas to reach a country that is dependent on Russia for its entire supply.

After Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Brussels set a deadline for EU members and willing members such as Bosnia to stop buying Russian gas by 2028.

However, Brussels faces the prospect of a significant new piece of Europe’s energy chessboard falling under the control not just of a US company but also of a company personally connected to a hostile president.

AAFS’s website features a large eagle, evoking the power of the United States. The names of any staff are not disclosed, but it is stated that they have “decades of collective experience in energy, infrastructure, finance and international project development”. AAFS does not appear to have undertaken any infrastructure projects on the planned scale in the Balkans.

Binnall and Flynn are not the only ones in Trump’s circle who show interest in Bosnia. Joe Flynn’s brother Michael, a former US intelligence chief whose conviction for lying to the FBI about his dealings with Russia was overturned by Trump’s pardon in 2020, has been lobbying on behalf of the leader of the Serb nationalist group in Bosnia.

The lobbying campaign succeeded in October in securing the lifting of US sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who undermined the 1995 peace agreement that ended a three-year war in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

In April, Donald Trump Jr, who runs his family business empire, visited Sarajevo. Although neither he nor Michael Flynn appear to be directly involved in the pipeline project, Dodik has thrown his support behind the project.