Greece has become the latest European government to hire Washington lobbyists as it seeks to curry favour with president Donald Trump.
The contract between the Greek foreign ministry and BGR group, a Republican-focused spin shop with close links to Trump and his officials, is worth $600,000 [€577,000] per year and started on Monday (10 February).
BGR has been the big winner on K-Street (the eponymous location of most upmarket Washington lobbying outfits) since Trump’s presidential election win in November. It has taken on the governments of Qatar and Panama, as well as the Yemeni National Resistance in contracts worth around $3.3m in the three weeks since Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
BGR will offer “strategic guidance and counsel with regard to government affairs activity within the US” the contract, filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, states.
“This may include relevant outreach to US government officials, non-government organizations,” it adds.
Greece’s main lobbyist will be Fred Turner, a former Democrat Congressional aide, whose support team will include Lester Munson, a former Republican staffer and former senior USAID official in the George W. Bush administration.
Greece’s move is the latest in a trend of European governments seeking political influence in Washington. Though a cluster of EU countries have lobbyists in Washington to help promote their tourist industries, the bloc’s governments have rarely hired consultants with a brief to give them access and influence in Congress and the White House.
That appears to have changed following Trump’s election.
Earlier this week, the president imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports that will hit the EU economy, and are likely to be followed by a wider package of import duties. He has also shuttered USAID and ordered a 90-day freeze on US aid programmes, many of which operate in the EU.
The European Commission has been in negotiations with DCI group, another Republican lobby firm, while Denmark, facing aggressive demands from the Trump administration to buy Greenland, is also in the market for lobbyists.
Meanwhile, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has joined the EU’s criticism of Trump’s approach to Greenland, describing it as the latest in a series of “relatively unprecedented announcements announcing geo-strategic changes [and] changes in zones of influence.”
He has also spoken of “tectonic upheaval” caused by Trump’s election
However, the Mitsotakis government may have reason to expect favourable treatment from the US over the next four years. Trump has appointed Kimberley Guilfoyle, a TV personality, lawyer and former fiancee of his son Don Jr, as the new US ambassador in Athens.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.