Estimated time of reading: ~ 4 minutes

A few weeks after taking office at the White House, Donald Trump’s administration has decided that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to projects around the world, will be significantly weakened, with offices closed and most of its employees cut. What will therefore be drastically reduced is the scope of action of USAID, which operates on all continents, including Europe. Established in 1961 by the then-administration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the agency in question contributed during the Cold War years to supporting economic development and humanitarian causes in Europe, then filling the void created after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the satellite communist regimes in Eastern countries. In recent decades, USAID has continued its work, supporting the programs launched by the European Union and carrying out others independently. In this dynamic, Russia, Belarus, and other authoritarian regimes in the region have viewed with annoyance the work of the US agency, which has contributed not only to economic development but also to the emergence of opposition movements and media capable of giving voice to requests kept dormant by local authorities. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Russia has commented favourably on the Trump administration’s decision to close USAID, accusing the agency of having worked over the years “to overthrow governments” and attack the “sovereignty” of nations, destabilising the political order (USAID had to suspend its activities in Russia in 2012). Moreover, Trump himself had denounced the “waste” and “crazy spending” sustained by USAID, recently also attacking it for having financed media aligned with the Democratic Party. Moscow, Minsk, and other countries have therefore seen their accusations “confirmed.”. The USAID-backed network has in fact been at the centre of government attacks under the so-called Foreign Agents Law that Russia enacted in 2012 and which served as a model for those applied in numerous other countries, including most recently Georgia under the government of the Georgian Dream party. The fact remains that Trump’s choice puts at risk non-governmental organisations operating in numerous European countries, particularly in former Soviet nations and those that belonged to the communist bloc.

In Belarus, where USAID supports opposition groups now forced to work in exile, the funding cut ordered by the White House could lead to the end of the activities of the only voices still able to oppose the regime of Lukashenko, who emerged victorious, as expected, in the recent presidential elections held in the country last January. However, the closure of USAID could also have direct consequences within the European Union. This is the case in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban took advantage of Trump’s announcement regarding the agency to attack the work done by USAID and the organisations it supports. “Now is the moment when these international networks have to be taken down; they have to be swept away,” Orban said. “It is necessary to make their existence legally impossible.” For European citizens, the Trump administration’s decision to drastically weaken USAID could severely limit their ability to counter emerging authoritarian tendencies in their own countries, especially in Eastern Europe. This dynamic could also slow down the EU accession process of some countries, such as those in the Eastern Balkans.

Written by: Francesco Marino