The probe follows the finance department’s finding that the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group misspent €4.3 million between 2019 and 2024. ID remained active until the June 2024 European Parliament elections, after which many of its members and staff regrouped under the Patriots banner.
According to the report, officials discovered irregularities in the Patriots’ accounts covering the period between July 16 and Dec. 31, 2024. The findings conclude the group donated €54,620 to local and regional organizations — a practice prohibited under Parliament rules, which require expenditure to be linked to political activities at the EU level.
Associations promoting French and Flemish traditions and heritage, a Martinique-based futsal organization, a tennis club in Guadeloupe, an Italian group that promotes the Fiat Panda car model, health-related NGOs, several rugby associations, and a Guadeloupean organization that holds quad-bike competitions all received funding from Patriots.
The report also found the group did not follow the rules when awarding three public tenders worth €197,258. Of that total, €146,444 went to e-Politic — a communications firm that Le Monde reported was headed by a former National Rally official, and which provided services for the National Rally for years.
Officials found “irregularities relating to the signature of contracts and payment files raising serious concerns regarding the procedural regularity of the entire tender process and adherence to the principles of sound financial management.”
The audit also flagged €25,200 spent on advertising in a political magazine run by a former member of Austria’s Freedom Party. Parliament deemed the expenditure irregular, arguing that the magazine effectively lives off funding from the Patriots and its predecessor the ID group, and that the payments amount to a camouflaged subsidy.