РУССКИЙ
10:56 03.12.2025 •
Photo: Euractiv
Former EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini was one of the three people arrested by Belgian police on Tuesday, in a sprawling fraud investigation into the financing of a Bruges academy for young diplomats, two people with knowledge of the investigation told ‘Euractiv’ and its partner De Standaard.
Federica Mogherini
Photo: RIA Novosti
Another College of Europe employee, involved in the executive education department, was also detained, the person said.
Top European Commission official Stefano Sannino was also detained. Sannino was previously the EEAS secretary-general under Mogherini, during the period when the Diplomatic Academy was created. He is currently the director general of the Commission’s Middle East, North Africa and Gulf department.
Belgian police raided the EU’s diplomatic service in Brussels on Tuesday, along with the College of Europe in Bruges and private homes, as part of a probe into alleged misuse of EU funds, according to people familiar with the investigation and witnesses, ‘Euractiv’ reports.
Raids took place across Belgium in the early hours of the morning, with police seizing documents and arresting three people to question them on suspicion of procurement fraud, corruption, and criminal conflict of interest.
The criminal probe began after allegations that the EEAS, and the College of Europe – the prestigious post-graduate training school for Eurocrats – misused EU public money in 2021 and 2022, according to four people with knowledge of the investigation.
The raids are the latest major scandal to hit the EU institutions and will pile pressure on the College of Europe and its rector, Federica Mogherini, who used to run the EEAS, and started a second five-year term in Bruges this year.
Investigators are examining whether the College of Europe or its representatives had prior knowledge of a public tender to finance the new EU Diplomatic Academy, an annual training programme for European diplomats in Bruges which is funded by the EEAS.
The College of Europe, founded in 1949, is regarded as the EU’s finishing school for diplomats and civil servants, with alumni including top politicians and officials in the European institutions.
Investigators have focused on the circumstances surrounding the college’s €3.2 million purchase of a building on Spanjaardstraat in Bruges, which houses diplomats who attend the academy, the four people with knowledge of the probe said.
Investigators examined allegations that the College of Europe and its representatives had access to confidential information about the tender, which was supposed to remain confidential to allow for fair competition between institutions vying to host the new academy.
OLAF, which has administrative powers to pursue suspected fraud involving EU money, interviewed several individuals before passing its findings to EPPO, tasked with investigating and prosecuting serious crimes against the EU’s interests.
The College of Europe and the new EU Diplomatic Academy are both led by Mogherini, the former Socialist Italian foreign minister, who led the EEAS as high representative for foreign affairs between 2014 and 2019. She became rector of the College in 2020 and director of the academy at its launch in 2022.
During the period under scrutiny, the EEAS was led by another Socialist former foreign minister, Spain’s Josep Borrell.
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