Fraud probe reverberates across Brussels

 

Fraud probe reverberates across Brussels

 

By Nicholas Vinocur

December 3, 2025 7:01 am CET

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/fraud-probe-reverberates-across-brussels/

Brussels Playbook

By NICHOLAS VINOCUR

with GERARDO FORTUNA

 

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING from not one but two Playbookers — yes, we had to tag-team this action-packed edition. First up: the scandal that everyone in Brussels is talking about.

 

FRAUD PROBE ROCKS EU INSTITUTIONS: A fraud investigation that has ensnared Europe’s former top diplomat Federica Mogherini and senior Commission official Stefano Sannino has sparked outrage among EU staff — and reignited turf wars between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top diplomat Kaja Kallas over which institution should be calling the shots on foreign affairs.

 

Brussels was shaken Tuesday by news that Belgian police had raided European External Action Service (EEAS) offices, private homes and the elite College of Europe in connection with a fraud probe. The revelation that Sannino and Mogherini had been held for questioning elevated the scandal to one of the most serious in recent memory.

 

The fallout spreads: In the hours after the news broke, several current and former European EEAS staffers told Playbook they feared the unfolding allegations involving the 2021-2022 tendering process to establish a diplomatic academy attached to the College of Europe would tarnish their reputations and that of the agency they worked for, which Mogherini led at the time.

 

“I’ve already gotten tens of messages sharing the frustration of the staff to be again the victims of reputational damages,” Cristiano Sebastiani, a member of the EU staff union Démocratie et Renouveau, wrote via WhatsApp. The dawn police raids on the EEAS, private homes and the elite College of Europe in Bruges had had a “disastrous impact on the credibility of the institutions concerned,” he added.

 

“The perception is, of course, shock and dismay,” added a recently retired official.

 

What’s alleged: Mogherini and Sannino are being quizzed over the establishment of a training academy for diplomats, with the searches carried out on the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and approved by the Belgian police. Mogherini, Sannino and another individual detained in the investigation have not been charged and have not commented on the allegations.

 

Key context: Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister, served as the EU’s high representative, the EU’s highest diplomatic role, from 2014 until 2019. Sannino was secretary-general of the EEAS, a powerful internal post, until he was replaced earlier this year.

 

The probe threatens to aggravate the already tense relationship between von der Leyen and Kallas. Several staffers linked Sannino’s departure from the EEAS in 2024 to a broader effort by von der Leyen to weaken the EU’s diplomatic arm and strengthen her executive branch. Sannino was awarded a new role at the Commission overseeing relations with the Middle East and Africa, which overlapped with existing services at his former employer. Adding to the blow, Sannino brought several diplomats with him to the Commission.

 

Kallas distanced: Now that Sannino is engulfed in scandal, the current high representative, Kallas, may be feeling vindicated. An EEAS spokesperson was quick to distance the former Estonian prime minister from Tuesday’s unfolding controversy, pointing out that the investigation into Sannino and Mogherini predated Kallas’ arrival at the EEAS. As to whether Kallas knew of the impending probe and was advised to part ways with Sannino — Commission officials who spoke to POLITICO weren’t sure.

 

Blowback for VDL? One EU official said that while it’s easy to point the finger at von der Leyen every time something goes wrong, responsibility in this case lies with the EEAS. “[I]it’s not fair that she would face a motion of censure for something the External Action Service may have done. She’s not accountable for all of the institutions.” The official added: “I know the people who don’t like von der Leyen will use this against her. But they use everything against her.”

 

But with the Commission president already plagued by questions over her commitment to transparency, the developing crisis could become the starkest challenge to the EU’s accountability in a generation, POLITICO’s Zoya Sheftalovich and colleagues write in a must-read analysis this morning.

 

SEEN FROM PARLIAMENT 

NOW WE GOT BAD BLOOD: The investigation is playing out against the backdrop of a poor relationship between MEPs and Belgium’s finest, as well as the country’s judiciary, which may be why lawmakers are treading carefully. Belgian authorities can be “a bit exaggerated,” a European People’s Party (EPP) official told our colleague Max Griera. “Let’s see how this develops.” 

 

Too quick, too little: “The relationship between Belgian prosecutors and the Parliament is in such a bad state,” argued a second centrist MEP. “Belgian authorities come too early with little evidence, while other prosecutors come later on in the process with tighter cases built.”

 

Why the beef? Parliament may not be center-stage in this week’s drama, but the scars from Qatargate and the Huawei cash-for-influence affair are still fresh. On Qatar, MEPs are sore that, after three years of investigation, there is still no judgment. They’re afraid that the whole case could fall through at a hearing in December after the defendants challenged the legality of the proceedings.

 

Sloppy memories: On Huawei, resentment in Parliament flared up in May when Belgian prosecutors made headlines for asking that an MEP’s legal immunity be lifted over alleged bribery, only to withdraw the request hours later when they figured out the politician wasn’t in office at the time of the wrongdoing. Lawmakers blasted the move as “sloppy.”

 

Tarnished reputations: The Belgian authorities’ actions even prompted Parliament President Roberta Metsola to publicly call out Belgium — and other countries — for “tarnishing” MEPs’ reputations without “a solid basis.” In June, Metsola said Parliament would require a much higher standard of evidence before announcing requests to lift immunity.

 

Immunity nudge: “A letter was sent to all permanent representations in September to remind them about the information that would need to accompany a request for immunity,” Metsola’s spokesperson Jüri Laas told POLITICO.

 

DEPLOY QATARGATE SHIELD! That fraught backdrop helps explain why political groups in the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs are expected this morning to shield Socialists and Democrats MEP Elisabetta Gualmini — recently welcomed back into the Socialist group after a suspension — from prosecutors, who accuse her of bribery in the Qatargate probe. Two MEPs argued that there’s simply not enough evidence of wrongdoing.

 

Not so lucky: However, MEPs are likely to lift the immunity of Socialist Alessandra Moretti, a frontrunner to chair the environment committee, who is also allegedly implicated in the case. EPP and Renew are expected to back stripping Morett of her immunity, while the Socialists will push to shield her, with last minute attempts to convince EPP and Renew on Tuesday evening, according to one official.

 

Quiz time: The committee will also grill Renew’s Nikola Minchev, S&D’s Daniel Attard and EPP’s Salvatore De Meo — all alleged to have participated in an unlawful lobbying scheme linked to Chinese tech giant Huawei. A fourth MEP under investigation, Italian EPP delegation chief Fulvio Martusciello, did not respond to a request for comment on why he is skipping the hearing. MEPs will decide on the immunities in January.

 

PERFECT TIMING: All this lands as Parliament and EU countries on Tuesday night sealed a deal on the bloc’s first anti-corruption law, harmonizing definitions of corruption offenses, minimum penalties and prevention measures. Member states will have two years to implement the law and an additional year to deliver their anti-corruption strategies to the Commission.

 

Will this actually help? The lead MEP on the file, Renew’s Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle, told POLITICO that the bill’s crime definitions and penalties also apply to EU officials. This will oblige  Belgium (and all EU countries) to “think about how they deal with anti-corruption taking place within their borders” and present a first national anti-corruption strategy to the Commission within three years.