{"id":38281,"date":"2024-05-17T16:58:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T14:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=38281"},"modified":"2024-05-17T17:09:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T15:09:35","slug":"who-is-behind-the-companies-that-trained-sns-an-eu-mediator-and-boris-johnsons-advisor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/who-is-behind-the-companies-that-trained-sns-an-eu-mediator-and-boris-johnsons-advisor\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Behind the Companies That Trained SNS: An EU Mediator and Boris Johnson\u2019s “Advisor”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September 2021, new elections were just around the corner, but there was no agreement between the government and the opposition.<\/p>

Even though the ruling Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> (SNS) had won more than two-thirds of parliament seats in the parliamentary elections a year earlier, there was still uncertainty surrounding their legitimacy due to the opposition\u2019s boycott.<\/p>

The European Parliament<\/em> sent four mediators to help both the ruling and opposition parties resolve the crisis.<\/p>

However, the opposition was not satisfied with the document that was the result of the subsequent dialogue. Towards the end of January 2022, just two months before the elections, the European Parliament\u2019s<\/em> mediators held a press conference.<\/p>

One of them, Knut Fleckenstein<\/strong>, said they had not come “to protect” the government or advocate for the opposition, but to help move the dialogue forward.<\/p>

However, the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia<\/em> (CINS) can now reveal that a company where Knut is a partner had business ties with the Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> that year.<\/p>

According to CINS’s investigation, in 2022, SNS paid just under 40,000 EUR for consulting services to a German company where Fleckenstein was a partner. Micka\u00ebl Roumegoux Rouvelle<\/strong>, an analyst at Transparency International’s<\/em> German branch, says that this case raises suspicions because Fleckenstein was the European Union’s representative in the dialogue between 2019 and 2022.<\/p>

“If he provided consulting services to SNS in 2021 and 2022 or was involved in obtaining a consulting contract for his company, that is a conflict of interest.”<\/p>

In its financial report, SNS listed this expense as training for its members, the investigation has also revealed. This item does not have to contain detailed information, so citizens cannot see where that money is going and for what exact purpose. CINS discovered another company with which SNS collaborated that year. It is a London-based company with ties to the UK Conservative Party<\/em>, and one of its owners boasted of having worked on campaigns for Boris Johnson<\/strong>.<\/p>

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Match Without a Referee: How Cases of Misuse of SNS Funding Collapsed<\/a>
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Public dialogue, confidential contract<\/h2>

On the prestigious Neuer Wall street in the heart of Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, there are shops of the world’s most famous brands. In the shop windows, passersby can see new models of Louis Vuitton<\/em>, Prada<\/em>, and Hermes<\/em>, among others.<\/p>

Next to one of those shops is the headquarters of the company Beust&Collegen International<\/em>. As stated on its website, the company, among other things, advises German companies in international activities by bringing them closer to politicians, authorities, and potential partners. It is owned by a company whose co-founder is the former mayor of Hamburg, Ole von Beust<\/strong>.<\/p>

The official website of the company that owns Beust&Collegen International<\/em> states that they take on new clients based on recommendations and that they refuse to represent companies or institutions significantly influenced by countries where the rule of law is not enforced.<\/p>

The contract that this company signed with the Serbian Progressive Party<\/em> is worth about 40,000 EUR. With the help of a German colleague, CINS attempted to schedule an interview with representatives of Beust&Collegen International<\/em>. However, they did not agree because, as they responded in an email, their contract obliges them to maintain confidentiality. They briefly mentioned the topic of cooperation with SNS.<\/p>

“Our job involved strategic advice regarding negotiations for Serbia’s EU accession and finding the most important stakeholders in the process,” according to their response.<\/p>

They cooperated with SNS in 2022, the very year when one of the company’s partners, former German politician and Member of the European Parliament<\/em> Knut Fleckenstein, was among the mediators in the dialogue between the government and the opposition on electoral conditions.<\/p>

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Meeting within the framework of the dialogue between the government and the opposition, with the mediation of the European Parliament; Photo: Beta \/ Milan Obradovi\u0107<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We did not manage to find out why Fleckenstein was chosen as a mediator by the European Parliament<\/em> because they did not respond to our questions, but instead referred us to general regulations. They also refused to provide us with documentation or correspondence related to the dialogue process.<\/p>

Knut Fleckenstein also did not want to speak to CINS.<\/p>

Fleckenstein<\/strong> was a mediator in the dialogue between the government and the opposition between 2019 and 2022, but even before that, while he was a Member of the European Parliament<\/em>, he had meetings with Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107<\/strong>. Also, in mid-2023, he was on an official visit as part of a delegation from this institution, which met with Vladimir Orli\u0107<\/strong>, the then President of Serbia\u2019s National Assembly<\/em>, when discussions about the dialogue between the government and the opposition were also ongoing.<\/p><\/div>

Fleckenstein is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the German humanitarian foundation Workers' Samaritan Foundation (<\/em>ASB), which operates in Serbia, among other countries. When the foundation was marking 18 years of activity in Serbia in 2017, Fleckenstein made an appearance. At that time, he praised the Serbian government's excellent handling of the migrant crisis.<\/p>\r\n

'Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 and Minister Aleksandar Vulin<\/strong> were a great support, and we supported Serbia. Remember the hundreds of thousands of migrants who passed through Serbia. The government then made a decision similar to Germany's \u2013 to provide help, and that certainly was not a popular decision,' Fleckenstein told Tanjug at the time.<\/p><\/div>

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