Belgian federal police executed a series of searches in European Union institutions across Brussels and Bruges and detained three people for questioning, including, reportedly, former top EU diplomat Federica Mogherini.
The raids today came as part of a criminal investigation into suspected fraud involving EU funds.
The operation was requested by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and approved by an investigating judge. It targeted the European External Action Service (EEAS) — the EU’s diplomatic arm — along with premises of the College of Europe: A prestigious postgraduate institution in Bruges known for training elite EU officials.
The private residences of several individuals in Belgium were also searched.
Three suspects were detained during the raids although no formal charges have been filed at time of writing.
News agency AFP reported that the current head of the College of Europe and former EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, was one of the three persons detained in the probe into suspected fraud, according to an unnamed source.
Brussels Signal has reached out to the College of Europe for comment.
Asked about the detainment of Mogherini, a spokesperson of the EPPO told Brussels Signal: “As a general rule, we cannot disclose the identities of individuals involved in our investigations, in order to respect European and national privacy laws and the presumption of innocence.”
She did add that nothing else beyond their press release could be shared, in order not to endanger the ongoing procedures and their outcome.
The probe centres on allegations of irregularities in a public tender process for the EU Diplomatic Academy, an annual training programme for junior diplomats funded by the EEAS and hosted in Bruges.
Investigators have focused on the circumstances surrounding the college’s €3.2 million purchase of a building on Spanjaardstraat in Bruges. That houses diplomats who attend the academy, four people with knowledge of the probe told Euractiv.
It is alleged that confidential information about the tender was misused to generate illegitimate gains.
“There are serious suspicions that during the tendering procedure, Article 169 of the EU Financial Regulation, concerning fair competition, was violated, and that confidential information about the tender was shared with one of the candidates,” the prosecutor’s office stated in a press release.
Launched to enhance diplomatic skills across EU member states, the academy is directly overseen by Federica Mogherini, the College of Europe’s rector, who assumed a second five-year term earlier this year.
Mogherini, recently re-elected to lead the institution for another five years, is an Italian politician who served as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019.
She was a controversial choice to lead the institution due to her lack of academic experience.
Investigators suspect that confidential details of the tender were improperly shared with one bidder, potentially breaching rules on fair competition and compromising the procurement’s integrity.
The College of Europe, which receives EU funding and was a candidate to host the academy, is under scrutiny for possible prior knowledge of this information.
The EU’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) played a key role in the preliminary phase, conducting interviews and administrative inquiries before escalating the matter to the EPPO, which now leads the probe.
Spokespeople for both the EPPO and OLAF have declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
The College of Europe, often dubbed the “EU’s own Oxbridge” for its role in nurturing future Eurocrats, has long been a cornerstone of European integration. It was founded in 1949 to foster solidarity among western European nations.
Its Bruges campus, where the raids occurred, hosts the academy under Mogherini’s leadership, intertwining the institution’s academic mission with EU diplomatic training.
During the period in question, the EEAS was led by Josep Borrell, the former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
In recent years, the EU has been faced with several accusations of fraud and corruption, including Qatargate, Pfizergate, alleged kickbacks from Huawei and questionable NGO funding.
Almost three years after the Qatargate corruption scandal erupted, the judicial process shows little sign of resolution. https://t.co/9x6cQRJT9g
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 12, 2025
