Newsroom
A high-profile shakeup has hit the heart of Europe’s diplomatic world. Federica Mogherini, the former EU foreign policy chief and now rector of the College of Europe, has been detained by Belgian authorities as part of a widening probe into suspected fraud tied to EU-funded diplomatic training programs, according to Belgian daily Le Soir.
Mogherini is one of three people detained in the same investigation, which focuses on how European funds were managed for the European Diplomatic Academy, a training program designed to prepare young diplomats from across the EU.
According to Euractiv, another major figure caught up in the case is Stefano Sannino, a senior European Commission official who previously served as Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Sannino held the post during the same period Mogherini oversaw the creation of the very academy now under scrutiny.
The investigation is being driven by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which requested a series of searches carried out by Belgian prosecutors and the Federal Police. Those searches took place at EEAS headquarters in Brussels, at College of Europe buildings in Bruges, and in several private homes. OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office, is also involved.
Neither the EEAS nor the College of Europe has commented publicly so far, a silence that’s raising eyebrows in Brussels, given the institutions’ central role in EU diplomacy.
Officials familiar with the probe say EPPO investigators tend to move thoroughly and decisively, and their financial crime cases often lead to concrete action.
The College of Europe, founded in 1949, is widely seen as the EU’s training ground for future diplomats and senior officials. Many of its graduates go on to lead European institutions, which makes the unfolding scandal all the more jarring inside the bloc’s foreign policy circles.
