The European Union risks getting into a new confrontation with US President Donald Trump, after it tried to block the signing of a contract for the construction of a Balkan pipeline with a company run by the personal lawyer of the American leader, writes The Guardian, citing documents.
“The intervention in the Southern Interconnect gas pipeline project appears to be the first time that Brussels has challenged a business enterprise made up of people close to the US president“, the article states.
The pipeline is to pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian sources say that under months of pressure from US officials, the country's leadership moved quickly to award the contract to a previously little-known company based in Wyoming.
AAFS Infrastructure and Energy, which was founded last November and has not disclosed its ownership, is led by two key members of Trump's campaign to overturn his 2020 election defeat: Jesse Binnall, a lawyer who defended him against charges of inciting a riot on Capitol Hill after his defeat, and Joe Flynn, the brother of Trump's former national security adviser.
Despite the lack of any obvious achievements, AAFS plans to invest $1.5 billion in the pipeline and other infrastructure projects in Bosnia.
In March, Bosnian lawmakers approved a bill that Transparency International said would set a “dangerous precedent” by stipulating that the contract should be awarded to AAFS without a tender.
A few days later, Brussels' representative in Sarajevo issued a personal warning to Bosnia's leaders, saying they were jeopardizing the country's hopes of joining the EU.
In a letter sent on April 13, seen by the newspaper, EU official Luigi Soreca wrote that under the energy deal between Bosnia and Brussels, “it is of the utmost importance that the bills are carefully coordinated” with the EU. He indicated that Brussels should have a say in pipeline legislation.
The pipeline is “a priority for the Trump administration”
Binnall has already said the pipeline is “a priority for the Trump administration.” Asked about the EU's intervention, he said that “AAFS will never lose sight of what is really important in this project: ensuring energy security and promoting economic development for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” He added that the firm is committed to “working closely with all relevant authorities to develop the infrastructure”.
For example, a pipeline that would connect Bosnia to a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Croatian coast would allow US gas to be delivered to a country that still depends on gas supplies from Russia. At the same time, the country, as a candidate for EU membership, must give up Russian gas by 2028.
However, Brussels fears that the new piece on the European energy chessboard will come under the control of not just an American company, but a company personally linked to the antagonistic president.
At the same time, the publication notes, Binnall and Flynn are not the only ones in Trump's entourage who have shown interest in Bosnia. Joe Flynn's brother Michael, a former US intelligence chief whose conviction for lying to the FBI about his ties to Russia was overturned by Trump in 2020, lobbied for the interests of the head of a Bosnian Serb nationalist group. This lobbying campaign got US sanctions lifted against pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
And in April this year, Donald Trump Jr., who runs the family business empire, visited Sarajevo. Although neither he nor Michael Flynn appear to be directly involved in the pipeline project.
