Over the past months, the Conservative Heritage Foundation from the United States has intensified its lobbying activities in the European Union, with a focus on forming a third entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Publicly available data from Transparency International’s register of meetings between European Union officials and politicians, NGOs, and lobbying firms in the EU show that several members of the Heritage Foundation traveled to Europe to discuss Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On March 23rd, Paul McCarthy, the representative of this organization, held a meeting with the delegate of the European Parliament, Antonio Tangero from Portugal, who belongs to the radical right-wing group “Patriots for Europe” in the European Parliament, Detektor reports.
Correa has previously had many disputable public appearances regarding the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In July, 2025, he criticized the EU reports on Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2023 and 2024 because, if Russia and China are mentioned as unacceptable influence generators in Republika Srpska, the mention of the “growing Islamisation in the parts of the Federation” is missing.
Correa also proposed deleting the text in which, in the 2025 European Parliament report, the authorities of Republika Srpska are called upon to respect the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the decision regarding the law on foreign agents.
He also suggested deleting the parts of the text condemning the secessionist intentions of the Republika Srpska leadership, removing explicit references to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in terms of EU foreign policy and sanctions against Russia, as well as Brussels’ concern over foreign malign disinformation influence on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A month before holding a meeting with McCarthy, Correa also met with Max Primorac, an HDZ lobbyist and a high-ranking member of the Heritage Foundation.
Primorac is known for his radical stances, which he revealed in reports about an alleged “Islamist threat” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In February 2026, the Heritage Foundation published an article authored by Primorac titled “Islamist State on the NATO Border.” The piece claims, among other things, that Muslims in BiH reject political equality with Serbs and Croats, and that Sarajevo—with NATO’s stability in mind—should “be wise and stop oppressing its Christian neighbors.”
In addition, his biggest focus is the HDZ’s interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely amendments to the Election Law, abolishment of the Office of the High Representative, and forming the third entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although the Heritage Foundation mainly “aims” at radical right-wingers, they also work on forming a deeper connection with the center-right from the European People’s Party (EPP).
The key person for that connection is Željana Zovko, a Member of the European Parliament from HDZ.
Zovko met publicly on multiple occasions with representatives of the Heritage Foundation, including Primorac, after which Primorac often “became active” and published controversial articles and analyses about Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As Detektor writes, she was the first person to form the bond between the Heritage Foundation and the EPP, which today influences cooperation between Brussels and Washington, with a noticeable acceleration over the past two years in defense, fossil fuels, and other areas, including the Balkans, Klix.ba writes.
