Former EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and current rector of the College of Europe, Federica Mogherini, was detained today as part of the European Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation into possible fraud in connection with the academy for young diplomats funded by the EU, reports Belgian media. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced earlier today that the subject of the investigation is the EU Diplomatic Academy, a nine-month training program for young diplomats in member countries, which the College of Europe won in a tender of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in 2021 and 2022.
The prosecution is investigating whether the EEAS breached tender rules by sharing confidential information with the College before the project was awarded.
The former head of EU diplomacy Mogherini has been taken into custody for questioning, judicial sources confirmed to the Belgian newspaper Standard.
Among those arrested is the director general of the European Commission’s department for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf States, Stefano Sannino, who was the secretary general of the EEAS during Mogherini’s mandate, Belga reports.
Belgian police today searched the EEAS offices in Brussels, the premises of the College of Europe in Bruges, which receives funding from the EU, as well as private homes in Belgium, including Mogherini’s private residence.
Mogherini headed the EEAS from 2014 to 2019. Since 2020, she is the rector of the College of Europe and was also elected as the director of the Diplomatic Academy of the EU.
(TYPE/Source: Beta/Photo: X)
