Since US President Donald Trump took office last year, Washington and Brussels have clashed over trade, support for Ukraine, and military spending. Now there's a new battleground: the Western Balkans.
Uniquely positioned at the intersection of EU and US interests, as well as Russian and Chinese influence, countries in the region have caught the eye of the world's superpowers, kicking off a race to capitalize on their emerging status, vulnerability, and weak economies.
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Nowhere is that more evident that in recent deals by US investors into energy projects in Albania, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, countries that are looking to end their dependence on Russian supplies.
"President Trump is opening a new era of cooperation with Southern, and Central and Eastern Europe," US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters at the Three Seas Initiative business forum in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The clash of agendas was highlighted last week when the United States made its biggest public investment in years in the Western Balkans, inking several multi-billion-dollar deals on gas exports and AI development in Albania, Bosnia, and Croatia.
The centerpiece is the $1.5 billion pipeline project Southern Interconnection between Bosnia and Croatia, linking the former with both the Croatian liquefied natural gas terminal on the island of Krk and the wider pan-European gas networks.
Theres a recognition that this is a high-stakes region again, and the more you over-announce, the more you invite pushback -- from Moscow, from Beijing, even from parts of Europe, one Congressional aide familiar with the discussions told RFE/RL.
Added another: "The strategy is to move capital and projects faster than the politics can react. If you frame everything as a geopolitical contest, you slow it down. If you call it investment and infrastructure, it moves.
Pipeline Dreams
Bosnia, one of the poorest countries in Europe, needs things to move, and quickly.
It is currently fully dependent on Russian fossil fuels imported via the TurkStream pipeline.
Crucially, the Krk terminal is a major conduit of American Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) into the European continent and the deal, which was co-signed by the United States, will ensure that even more US energy gets to the region.
Balkan countries appear to be turning toward the United States after years of failing to secure the financing it needs from Europe.
Low investment has long plagued the Balkans, according to David J. Kostelancik, a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), who says "energy security in Southeastern Europe is no longer a peripheral economic issue it is a core US national security concern."
By focusing diplomatic engagement and facilitating financingthe US can boost investment in an energy sector that increases competitiveness and ensures security, including cyber security and investment screening mechanisms that uncover attempts by malign actors to gain influence.
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Both Brussels and Washington support weaning the Balkans from the Russian energy umbilical cord. But energy policy is now bleeding into the race for influence, pitting the two capitals against each other.
To pave the way for the pipeline deal, Bosnia amended legislation to designate a private US company -- AAFS Infrastructure and Energy -- as the main investor and developer.
According to company and project disclosures, the director of AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is Jesse Binnall, a former member of US President Donald Trump's legal team, while Vice President Joseph Flynn is the brother of former US National-Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The new law meant no open tender process, irking Brussels and prompting Transparency International to warn of a dangerous precedent being set.
In a letter dated April 13, the EU ambassador to Sarajevo, Luigi Soreca, warned that legislation adopted specifically for the gas pipeline project (lex specialis) could jeopardize Bosnia's access to the European energy market, as well as about 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion) in funding under theEU Growth Planfor the Western Balkans.
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The Balkan country is part of Brussels Energy Community, which extends its laws in this field to EU hopefuls in the region. While Sarajevo has been an EU candidate country since 2022, there is no indication it will join the club anytime soon with Brussels often complaining about the lack of internal reforms.
Officials in Bosnia also say their deal with US investors comes in a bid to help moving toward the blocs own goal of halting all Russian energy imports by January 1, 2028.
Thats a tall task for Bosnia, which has no gas production of its own and is entirely dependent on Russia, which provides it with 225 million cubic meters of gas annually.
With prospects of EU membership appearing distant, Bosnia looks to have chosen to ignore Europes warning to "carefully consider its obligations" when signing energy project contracts, and push ahead with American investment.
Bosnia even joined an American initiative to strengthen the region's energy supply with its foreign minister, Elmedin Konakovic, telling RFE/RL's Balkan Service that "it was economically significant for the country."
"This part of Europe is returning to common sense, the path to prosperity is more, not less energy," Wright said.
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The US economic interest in the region has been further fueled by the adoption by Congress in February of the Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act, which among other things commits the United States to intensifying economic cooperation.
Last week, Kosovos capital, Pristina, hosted an American Investor Conference with the aim of attracting US businesses to invest in numerous projects, such as a new bus station and hospital in the city, the construction of a ring road, and multiple sports infrastructure facilities.
The US investment group Pantheon Atlas has inked a letter of intent with its local partner Koncar Group to next year build a $58 billion AI development and data center in central Croatia with a planned electricity capacity of 1 billion gigawatt.
Meanwhile in Tirana, Albania signed a 20-year framework agreement for the supply of American LNG imports, worth $6 billion, connecting the local energy supplier Albgaz with the American firm Venture Global and the Greek company Aktor.
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the expectation is that more announcements are likely, though no details were given.
They added that while the current focus is on Albania, Bosnia, and Croatia, theres a strong sense that this new policy is meant to be regional.
Serbia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro are all seen as logical next steps if the initial projects stick, particularly as Washington tries to build a more integrated energy and digital corridor across the Western Balkans.
With reporting by Alex Raufoglu in Washington, DC.
US Energy Push In Western Balkans Sparks Tension with Brussels
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