On Tuesday 2 December, at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the Belgian federal police conducted searches in several buildings of the College of Europe in Bruges, the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels and the homes of suspects, including – according to the Belgian press – the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the Italian Federica Mogherini, and the former Secretary-General of the EEAS, Stefano Sannino.
According to the EPPO, the case concerns the award of the management of the European Union Diplomatic Academy, a nine-month training programme for junior diplomats across Member States (see EUROPE 13480/15), to the College of Europe by the EEAS for the pilot period 2021-2022.
“The investigation focuses on whether the College of Europe and/or their representatives were informed in advance about the selection criteria of the tender procedure and had sufficient reason to believe that they would be awarded the implementation of the project, prior to the official publication by the EEAS of the tender notice”, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release. It reports “strong suspicions” that, during the tendering process, “confidential information (...) was shared with one of the candidates”. It adds that such actions, if proven, could constitute public procurement “fraud”.
After five years as High Representative between 2014 and 2019, Ms Mogherini became Rector of the College of Europe. Mr Sannino is currently Director-General of the new services for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (MENA) at the European Commission.
When questioned, Commission spokesperson, Paula Pinho, acknowledged the searches, but refused to confirm the identities of the suspects.
“The credibility of our institutions is at stake. As we speak, negotiations over an anti-corruption directive are underway following the scandals of Qatargate, Huawei and the Uber Files scandals. We urgently need an ethics body with more teeth to stop the rot of corruption at its source”, said the Co-Chair of The Left in the European Parliament, Manon Aubry of France. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)