Former EU top diplomat among three held in fraud investigation

Original article by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

Belgian police have arrested three people including the EU’s former top diplomat Federica Mogherini and raided the headquarters of the EU foreign service and the elite College of Europe as part of an investigation into suspected fraud.

The three were detained “as part of a probe into suspected fraud related to EU-funded training for junior diplomats”, the European public prosecutor’s office said in a statement, without naming individuals.

The Belgian newspaper De Standaard, citing judicial sources, was among the first to report that Mogherini, now the rector of the College of Europe, was among the three arrested.

A source confirmed to the Guardian that Mogherini was among those held. The Belgian paper said two others from “diplomatic circles” had also been arrested over possible “procurement fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest”. The College of Europe did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The Guardian understands that Stefano Sannino, the secretary general of the EU’s external action service between 2021 and 2024 and now a European Commission director general, was another of those arrested. Belgian media also reported his name. Sannino, an Italian official, did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

A European Commission spokesperson confirmed that “an ongoing investigation is happening into the activities that took place in the previous mandate” but declined to answer further questions, including about the names of the suspects.

The College of Europe did not respond to a question about whether Mogherini had been arrested but said it would cooperate fully with the authorities “in the interest of transparency and respect for the investigative process”. It said it remained committed to “the highest standards of integrity, fairness and compliance – both in academic and administrative matters”.

Police carried out searches at the Brussels headquarters of the EU’s foreign service, the European External Action Service, as well as several buildings of the College of Europe in Bruges at the request of the prosecutor’s office. Searches also took place at the houses of the suspects, the prosecutor’s office said.

It said an investigation was ongoing “to assess whether any criminal offences have occurred”, adding: “All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the competent Belgian courts of law.”

The EU foreign service was led by Mogherini from 2014 to 2019, after she had served a few months as Italian foreign minister. She became rector of the EU-funded College of Europe in 2020, a controversial choice for some former alumni who claimed she lacked scholarly credentials or experience running a complex academic structure. The College of Europe, founded in 1949 in Bruges, has served as the postgraduate training ground for countless EU officials and diplomats.

The case is an unprecedented investigation by the European public prosecutor’s office (EPPO), the only EU body that handles criminal cases, which was launched in 2021 to combat cross-border fraud involving EU funds. The EPPO can bring criminal cases in courts in any of the 24 EU member states that have joined it, including Belgium.

The case centres on whether the College of Europe and or its representatives were informed in advance about the tender for a training programme for young diplomats before the official launch of the bidding process.

The EPPO said it had “strong suspicions” that the rules on fair competition had been breached and that confidential information had been shared with one of the candidates taking part in the tender. The College of Europe in Bruges was awarded a contract to run the European Union Diplomatic Academy in 2021-22 after a decision from the EU foreign service. The EPPO said immunity of the three suspects had been lifted at its request.

The EPPO declined to give further details beyond its initial statement about the case so as “not to endanger the ongoing procedures and their outcome”.

An EU diplomat said they were happy that the EPPO was working “and is not afraid to go after big names”, adding: “If the allegations are true, they should be severely punished to send a clear message that any type of corruption is not tolerable in the EU.”