Belgian authorities raided the offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the bloc’s diplomatic arm, on Tuesday morning as part of an anti-fraud investigation.
The premises of the College of Europe in the city of Bruges, which receives funding from the EU institutions, were also searched as part of the operation.
The private homes of individuals in Belgium were also searched, and three people have been detained.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested the raids as part of a probe into suspected fraud related to an EU-funded training project for junior diplomats.
In a statement, the EPPO said that the investigation is centred on the European Union Diplomatic Academy, a nine-month training for young diplomats and awarded under a EU tender to the College of Europe in Belgium between 2021 and 2022.
Authorities are investigating whether the EEAS broke its tendering rules by sharing information with the College before the project was awarded.
The rector of the College of Europe is currently Federica Mogherini, who was at the helm of the EEAS between 2014 and 2019. She was succeeded by Josep Borrell, who was replaced by the current foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in December 2024.
In its statement, the EPPO specified that there are “strong suspicions” that EU rules on “fair competition” were breached during the tendering process and that “confidential information related to the ongoing procurement was shared with one of the candidates participating in the tender.”
The facts “could constitute procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and violation of professional secrecy,” EPPO said in the statement. “The investigation is ongoing to clarify the facts and assess whether any criminal offences have occurred.”
Euronews has reached out to the Belgian police for comment.
This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.