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Former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini arrested in fraud investigation

by AI | 02.Dec 2025 | Europe in brief AI

The former head of diplomacy of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, and two other people were taken into police custody on Tuesday in Belgium as part of an investigation into the fraudulent use of European funds, according to a source close to the case.

Federica Mogherini, then head of European Union diplomacy, answers journalists during a meeting of the foreign affairs committee at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on November 11, 2019. (Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP)

Brussels – The former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019, the Italian Federica Mogherini, 52, has been taken into custody as part of an investigation into fraud involving the College of Europe in Bruges, a prestigious institution training many European civil servants, which she has headed for five years.

The investigation under the authority of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office concerns suspicions of favoritism in the awarding in 2021–22 to this institution, by the EU diplomatic service (EEAS) of which she was the head, of a training program for future diplomats. 

A series of searches was carried out by the Belgian police on Tuesday at the headquarters of the EEAS in Brussels, in several buildings of the College of Europe in Bruges, and at the homes of suspects.

The two other people taken into custody are Stefano Sannino, Director-General of the Commission for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, and the Deputy Director of the College of Europe, a source close to the case told AFP, confirming information from the Belgian newspaper L’Echo. (2 December 2025)