Arnaud Gouillon

The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Store and/or access information on a device, Measure advertising performance, Measure content performance, Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Store and/or access information on a device, Use limited data to select advertising, Create profiles for personalised advertising, Use profiles to select personalised advertising, Create profiles to personalise content, Use profiles to select personalised content, Develop and improve services, Use limited data to select content. Match and combine data from other data sources, Link different devices, Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically. Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors, Deliver and present advertising and content, Save and communicate privacy choices. In mid-June last year, three vans rolled into the village of Pones/Ponesh in eastern Kosovo, loaded with school supplies, clothes and shoes for local Serb children. The humanitarian convoy was one of dozens organised by the French NGO Solidarité Kosovo over the past roughly 15 years, bringing aid collected in France to the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo, a majority-Albanian former province of Serbia independent since 2008. Today, Solidarité counts connections spanning from the global far-right youth movement Generation Identity to the anti-immigration National Rally party of French presidential contender Marine Le Pen, and all the way to the corridors of the Serbian foreign ministry. Experts see in Solidarité and similar organisations a bid to rebrand the far-right and craft a narrative that portrays Christianity in Europe as under threat from Islam. “Acts of charity are an excellent instrument for implementing this, because the general public’s perception of someone who helps others does not place them in the category of fascism,” said sociologist Milos Perovic of the University of Novi Sad in northern Serbia. “It indicates the consequences that will seemingly occur if they do not confront the increasingly frequent and intensive influxes of refugees and migrants.” According to the financial reports of Solidarité Kosovo, the organisation received more than 650 million dinars, or roughly 5.5 million euros, in donations between 2011 and 2018. Yet less than half went to people and organisations on the ground. In 2015, for example, more money was spent on collecting donations than was actually directed to the organisation’s core mission, a pattern seen throughout 2011-2015 – more than 1.5 million euros was spent on salaries and gathering donations, or three times more than on organising and sending aid to target communities. After 2016, until the last available financial report two years later, significantly more funds were allocated for operations abroad. The last report, from 2018, was compiled by the Paris firm Keycost, led by Ivan Conic. Conic is also registered as treasurer of the Union of Serbs of France. Keycost is listed on the website of All Serbs in Paris as a ‘partner’ Development of the website was supported by the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, headed since late 2020 by Arnaud Gouillon, founder of Solidarit é Kosovo . The Directorate’s budget for 2022 is more than 150 million dinars [1.3 million euros]. Dual French-Serbian national Nikola Mirkovic was also part of a group of French election observers made up mainly of right-wing political figures who observed elections in eastern Ukraine that were dismissed as illegitimate by Kyiv and its Western backers. Photo: EPDE Solidarité Ko