The General Court has annulled a decision of the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) fining the Patriots for Europe 5 per cent of its annual budget or €47,020.54 for allegedly “intentionally providing incorrect information”.
The General Court is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The APPF had opened an investigation after discrepancies arose between the party’s formal notification that a bureau member had left in February 2022 and the continued references to that member on the party’s social media.
The probe concluded there were inconsistent responses to the APPF under the 2014 regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations.
Under EU law, the APPF can impose fines only if a party “deliberately provides false information to the EU body”.
In this case, the Patriots – formerly the Identity and Democracy (ID) – already told the APPF correctly that the member was no longer on the board. The problem was that old posts on social media were not updated.
The General Court argued on September 10 that keeping outdated posts online was not the same as deliberately giving false information.
The General Court rejected the party’s request for compensation, though.
The decision ties into wider disputes over the funding of the Patriots, which has 85 members.
On December 12, 2023, during the European Parliament election campaign, the EP suspended a portion of the party’s funding after what it described was a sanction decision by the APPF.
The Patriot’s financial advisor told Brussels Signal that decision deprived the party of “around €4 million” in crucial campaign financing, calling the sanction “illegal”.
The case stemmed from a 2023 political advertising campaign in Czechia in which the then-ID ran billboards against the EU’s Green Deal.
The EP’s Bureau concluded that the campaign appeared to primarily benefit the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party rather than ID and therefore ruled €228,776.71 in expenses ineligible.
The Patriots have contested this ruling, claiming double standards. They argued that others, such as Renew Europe, ran similar national-level campaigns without facing the same financial penalties.
They also said that parts of their complaint letter to the EP were redacted before being presented to the Bureau, limiting scrutiny of their claims and that requests for a meeting with the Bureau were denied.
In May, the Patriots also took the APPF to court, accusing it of “political bias and a lack of independence.”
