EU Fraud Probe: A Growing Accountability Crisis

Brussels is reeling over what even insider publications are dubbing one of the most serious scandals in recent memory—and there are a few to choose between.

European taxpayers, who are concerned about their money being misappropriated, now know that top European Commission official (and Italian leftist) Stefano Sannino was detained by Belgian police on Tuesday, December 2nd, alongside former EU foreign policy chief (and, again, Italian leftist) Federica Mogherini and one other official, to answer to accusations of fraud and corruption.

Police announced on Wednesday that these had been released because they are not a flight risk, and allegations are not proven. But Zoltán Kovács, who is spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said that the raids still “expose a system,” even at this early stage.

Together, the revelations confirm what many suspected: the war mafia is not only present in Ukraine. Its influence stretches all the way to Brussels, inside the very institutions that engineered Europe’s pro-war policy.

In particular, the investigation centres on claims the European External Action Service, where Sannino previously worked under Mogherini, colluded with the College of Europe—widely known as the bloc’s ‘finishing school’ for Eurocrats, now led by Mogherini—to misuse EU public money to set up a new diplomatic academy, the Diplomatic Academy. Officials working at these institutions are now worried that their reputations will be tarnished, too.

Hungarian MEP Kinga Gál said the allegations were revealing of Brussels’ “staggering” hypocrisy.

The Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament called on Tuesday for a “full parliamentary inquiry” into the issue, stressing that “European taxpayers deserve answers.”

“Brussels,” it says, “has an accountability crisis.”

Italian MEP Isabella Tovaglieri (Lega/PfE) also stressed on Wednesday that Brussels’ leadership must “provide clear and immediate answers,” adding:

If the accusations were to be confirmed, the impact would be extremely serious: not only a waste or diversion of community public funds, but also a further hard blow to the credibility of European institutions, which should ensure transparency and legitimacy.

The scandal is also reported to have reignited warring between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, over who bears most control over foreign affairs.