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By ELISA BRAUN
Tips, tales, traumas to @elisabraun or influence@politico.eu | View in your browser
BONJOUR dear readers. One of the things that surprised me when I started working on this beat is that despite the large number of influence professionals in Brussels, the market for corporate intelligence — that’s spies who work legally in the private sector looking for intel — seemed quite small compared to other European capitals.
Look elsewhere for spies. In Paris, several players in the intelligence économique sector (as we rather pompously call it) have in the past decade joined forces with experts in comms or lobbying — Adit has integrated Rivington, Avisa/Forward has bought 35°Nord. Meanwhile, London remains a breeding ground for big private spy firms that team up with even bigger law firms or communication conglomerates with transatlantic connections. In comparison, Brussels only has a few lobbying firms teaming up with spies or investing in their own in-house 007 departments.
But times are changing. Brussels is a place where gathering intel is “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel,” a former British officer who now works in the private sector told me. And although the market is still small, there’s a perhaps surprising group showing an appetite for Bondesque missions on the European stage: NGOs.
You only live twice. Just like law firms before them, some NGOs are commissioning investigative reports that highlight the bad practices of their opponents, and forwarding them to the media to push their advocacy agenda, which wasn’t the case a few years ago, according to an executive from one corporate intelligence firm, fresh off an early morning Eurostar.
The French connection. A French detective I’ve known for years laughed at how easy he finds it to come to Brussels and carry out work, in large part because many in the city are still naïve about what’s going on. So next time you’re on the Eurostar, watch out! Your neighbor could be a spy or, even worse, a nosy POLITICO journalist.
Today we’re talking about …
— MEPs are angry after being linked to an Azeri lobbying campaign.
— Hard times for Brussels NGOs, who are wondering how to make their voices heard in the post-election political context.
— Brussels hosts a cigar-friendly lobbying event.
STRANGE LOBBYING CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
AZERBAIJAN LOBBYING ALLEGATIONS RILE MEPs: Eyebrows were raised after POLITICO — and no doubt other media outlets — last week received an email from a PR firm about what it described as Russian influence operations in Europe. While this sounded very juicy, it focused exclusively on one man, my colleague Gabriel Gavin spotted: Russian-Armenian oligarch Ruben Vardanyan.
Vested interests: Vardanyan is currently behind bars in Azerbaijan after the country launched an offensive to conquer the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, sparking the mass exodus of its Armenian residents. While the 56-year-old made his money in Moscow and has been sanctioned by Ukraine for his involvement in Russian infrastructure businesses, he gave up his Russian citizenship in order to go into politics and become the Karabakh Armenian prime minister. There has been speculation he maintained ties with the Kremlin, but Russian peacekeepers stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh ultimately left Vardanyan and other local leaders to be detained by the Azerbaijanis.
Friends in high places in the West: Former Unilever boss Paul Polman and pharmaceutical company Moderna co-founder Noubar Afeyan are among those actively campaigning for Vardanyan’s release. His office also claims he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize — even if the chances of him winning the coveted prize with his chequered past are virtually zero.
A Russian agent? Nevertheless, Azerbaijan is furious about the nomination, as per several reports from local outlets. That’s where the PR campaign comes in, as it claimed that MEPs had backed a motion calling on the Nobel Prize Committee to recognize Vardanyan as a Russian agent and rule him out as a potential recipient of the award.
So what? Well, according to a press release sent out by a PR company working on behalf of the Center for Analysis and Strategies, Ukraine, MEPs Viola von Cramon-Taubadel and Karen Melchior supported calls for Vardanyan to be blacklisted from the prestigious prize. There’s only one problem: the pair of lawmakers told POLITICO they had done no such thing, suggesting their words had been deliberately taken out of context to support Azerbaijan’s talking points.
Flat-out denial: “I took part in this event on the basis it was about Russian disinformation,” said von Cramon-Taubadel, a German MEP. “It’s shameful it seems to be being used for Azerbaijani disinformation. I did not support any joint declaration, and I wouldn’t have participated if it had any links to the Azerbaijani embassy.” Denmark’s Melchior also told POLITICO she hadn’t signed up to the statement, nor would she.
We just make the sandwiches: A spokesperson for the Brussels Press Club denied it had any involvement in lending credibility to such a lobbying event. “Anyone can book our venue, like any hotel in Brussels, and we have hundreds of events a year,” said a staffer who answered the phone when POLITICO put in a query. “But we aren’t the organizers of these events, we just host them.”
So what is the Center for Analysis and Strategies, Ukraine? Well, it’s not entirely clear. The organization doesn’t seem to have a functioning website in English or Ukrainian, has 88 likes on its Facebook page, and four out of the only five references to the think tank on Google are pro-Azerbaijani articles written by its founder, Ihor Chalenko.
Country of concern: Azerbaijan is already facing criticism over its championing of fossil fuels and its network of influence in the West — but outwardly misrepresenting MEPs’ stances would mark a new rift between the country and the Parliament. POLITICO has reached out to the country’s ambassador to the EU, Vaqif Sadiqov.
**With POLITICO’s EU Transition Playbook, follow every power shift that matters as the election dust settles. By reading our weekly newsletter, you’ll stay up to date on every twist and turn of the race for the EU’s top jobs. Sign up to read here.**
NGOs PREPARE FOR DARK TIMES
ADVOCACY IN THE FAR-RIGHT ERA. Organizations fighting for human rights and environmental causes are gearing up for tough years ahead as the far-right surge has shifted the political landscape. That was, in short, the message after two hours of conversation between advocacy professionals at an event organized by EU Changer, an NGO helping other NGOs with training and other tools.
Targeting new allies. Noting the high level of abstention in the EU election, Eve Geddie, head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, questioned where the pro-European public was and how best to reach out to it. “Everyone now has to build more on national connections … tailoring the message for each delegation … but also considering new messengers,” she said.
Tackling the trust issue: While years ago, a statement starting with “Amnesty has found out” was deemed credible, Geddie said Amnesty had been attacked by political parties and critics who say the group is too politically polarized to address certain issues. “Do we need to think about a platform or a spokesperson?” she asked fellow NGOs. Amnesty has already started relying on advocates by proxy, she added, such as progressive mayors or scientists — a playbook that has long been used by corporate lobbyists.
Simplify and amplify. Chiara Martinelli, director of Climate Action Network Europe, highlighted that a “wave of disinformation is taking over the media, debates and even policy-making” and urged NGOs to think of new ways of communicating that put the fake narrative at the center before giving the true message. She also acknowledged that unlike the far right, NGOs have struggled to invest in the social media landscape during this election. “Our messages are too complicated, we have to simplify and speak outside of the bubble,” she told the crowd.
Cordon sani-what? Asked by a member of EDRI, a human rights NGO, where they would draw the line on working with the far right, panelists had to do a lot of (sometimes tortured-looking) thinking, apparently torn between personal convictions and the needs of their jobs. The general answer seemed to be: let’s deal with it on a case-by-case basis if we really have to.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
INTERPOL’S TOP JOB REFLECTS GLOBAL INFLUENCE SHIFT. A Brit was supposed to be taking the helm of global police organization Interpol, the U.K. hoped. Yet it didn’t work out as expected for Stephen Kavanagh, a No. 2 at Interpol, who for months used the U.K.’s diplomatic firepower to court the support of executive committee members Argentina, Belgium, China, Egypt, India, Namibia, Nigeria, Spain, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.
And the winner is … His biggest opponent, Brazilian Valdecy Urquiza, who is now due to take the helm of the 101-year-old organization after many years under the control of Americans and Europeans. He was backed by China.
Needless to say it’s an important shift, in terms of power balance. Urquiza represents a political view of the world that is close to that of his president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, meaning closer to centers of power that are not those the West is keen on. His name will be submitted to all the members this fall, and they are likely to follow the executive committee’s preference and back him.
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SOME HAVE CALLED IT “THE DAVOS OF THE POOR AND CROOKS” but of course Jean-Paul Carteron, organizer of the Crans Montana Forum, rolls his eyes when he hears that about the business and lobbying event he’s been chaperoning for almost 40 years in Geneva, Brussels or the disputed territory of Dakhla in Morocco — and that is taking place for the next three days at the Mérode Club in front of the Palace of Justice.
“There’s no bad press about my event! But it’s true that I was once fooled by a crook,” he laughed as we met him eating fries next to a conservative French senator who was casually smoking a huge cigar. This year, the president of Comoros in East Africa, Azali Assoumani — who just met with Charles Michel while on a tour of Brussels — is the invité d’honneur.
“You have to realpolitik,” said Carteron about the controversial guests who have been attending his events for years. “Not supporting men like that will not help to solve problems,” Carteron said before starting a rant about U.S. President Joe Biden’s wish to alienate China — Huawei is among the sponsors of the event this year.
What about money? Carteron says that guests who pay around €2,500 to attend the event and companies sponsoring it mean it is barely profitable. “I’m not doing that for money,” said a man who lives between Monaco, Switzerland, and wherever interesting attendees lead him.
HEADLINES
— EU prosecutors launch bombshell corruption probe into former European Investment Bank chief (POLITICO)
— Firestorm erupts around wealthy Kazakh yacht guests following Greek island blaze (OCCRP)
— Visions of sanctuary, in life and art (Financial Times)
INFLUENCERS
ENERGY
The former head of the Frans Timmermans cabinet, Diederik Samsom, has a new role: advising Dutch gas network operator Gasunie, my colleague Karl Mathiesen spotted. After nearly five years at the European Commission, from July 1 he’ll be helping the company with their energy transition as chair of their supervisory board. More about the move here.
TECH & MEDIA
— Nathan Shepura has taken on a position as senior director in Brussels for Inline Policy. He was previously a senior sdviser to the EPP and MEP David Lega.
— The Centre for Democracy & Technology appointed Asha Allen as its sirector and secretary general.
— Carolina Lorenzon, international affairs director at Mediaset, was elected chair of the board of the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services (ACT)
COMMISSION
— Nadine Ouedraogo Constant has started as policy officer at the Commission’s Creative Europe Program. She was previously head of public program and education at the Norwegian National Museum.
DIPLOMACY
French admiral Pierre Vandier becomes Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation at NATO.
CONSULTANCIES
— After failing to get elected to the European Parliament, Italy’s ex-PM Matteo Renzi is joining Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change as a strategic adviser, my colleague Hannah Roberts emails to say.
— Marcus Navin-Jones joined as senior councel at Crowell & Moring’s Environment and Natural Resources Practice Group. He was previously legal officer at the EFTA Surveillance Authority.
— After more than 4 years as sirector at Kreab Worldwide, Kelsey Paulding has been promoted to partner in the Financing, Investment, and Transition Practice.
— Martin Wilberg, formerly director at Kreab Worldwide, has been promoted to partner within the Sustainability & Strategic Resources Practice.
FOOD
— Yuriy Sharanov from Mars was re-elected as president of the Committee of European Sugar Users. Torben Vestergaard Nielsen was re-elected vice president of the committee.
A special thanks to: Gabriel Gavin, Hannah Roberts, Louise Guillot, my editor Paul Dallison, Šejla Ahmatović, Giulia Poloni and Arooj Aftab.
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