Federica Mogherini.Image: keystone
The predecessor of the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, is apparently involved in a fraud scandal. Federica Mogherini was arrested.
12/02/2025, 1:55 p.mDecember 2, 2025, 2:05 p.m
The EU’s foreign service and an elite university headed by former EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini have been targeted by corruption investigators. Belgian police searched the premises of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels and an elite university in Bruges, and three suspects were arrested, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) based in Luxembourg announced. Prior to the searches on suspicion of fraud, the immunity of several suspects was lifted. The authorities also searched apartments.
As the AFP news agency learned from investigative circles on Tuesday, Mogherini himself was among those arrested. She is currently in police custody. Mogherini’s deputy and EU official Stefano Sannini were also reportedly arrested. Sannini is an Italian diplomat and former Director General of the European External Action Service (EEAS). He is now Director General of the EU Commission for relations with the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf States.
According to the announcement, the EEAS commissioned the College of Europe, a private university in Bruges, to carry out a training program for young EU diplomats following a tendering process. The ongoing investigation is about whether the university or its representatives were informed in advance about the selection criteria or knew before the tender was published that they would be awarded the project, EPPO said.
There is a “strong suspicion” that confidential information was passed on to an applicant. The rector of the College of Europe is the former Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. She was previously head of the EEAS.
A spokeswoman for the EU Commission confirmed the searches. This concerns events from a previous mandate. She did not answer further questions, such as whether EEAS employees were among those arrested, citing an ongoing investigation. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office also emphasized that the investigation was not completed and that it still needed to be clarified whether there were any criminal offenses.
More on this shortly.