Belgian police arrested three people, including former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and raided EU offices in a corruption probe that names her as a suspect.
On Tuesday, Belgian authorities arrested the trio after searching the EU diplomatic service’s headquarters in Brussels and the College of Europe, a prestigious training institute for future policymakers, in Bruges.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said on Wednesday that Mogherini, now rector of the College of Europe, was among those detained, along with a senior college staff member and an official from the European Commission.
The EPPO said the Belgian Federal Judicial Police questioned all three before formally notifying them of the accusations. These relate to suspected procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest and breaches of professional secrecy.
All three were released afterwards, with investigators saying they were unlikely to flee.
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High-profile investigation
Mogherini led the EU’s external action service from 2014 to 2019 and was involved in some of the bloc’s most delicate diplomatic efforts, including the Iran nuclear talks and efforts to ease tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.
The EPPO said police had searched the suspects’ homes as well as several college buildings and the headquarters of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s foreign policy body.
The EEAS sits in central Brussels, close to other major EU institutions.
Investigators have not linked any outside actor or foreign government to the case. The probe focuses instead on what the EPPO described as “strong suspicions" of fraud in awarding a tender to run a training programme for junior diplomats at the EU Diplomatic Academy during the 2021-2022 academic year.
The EEAS was then overseen by Josep Borrell, who served as Vice President of the European Commission.
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Blow for EU integrity efforts
The accusations against Mogherini come as the EU tries to move past several corruption and influence-peddling scandals.
The largest, known as Qatargate, emerged in late 2022 and involved lawmakers, parliamentary aides, lobbyists and relatives.
Belgian prosecutors said Qatari and Moroccan officials paid cash to shape EU decisions, though both countries denied wrongdoing.
There have been no convictions and the prospects for a trial remain unclear.
Earlier this year, several people were arrested in a probe involving Chinese tech giant Huawei, suspected of bribing members of the European Parliament.
In 2023, a former aide to far-right German MEP Maximilian Krah was detained over allegations of spying for China. Krah, now in Germany’s federal parliament, said he had no knowledge of the suspicions involving his former staffer.
(with newswires)
