Following a large-scale corruption scandal uncovered by the Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies resulted in substantial changes both in the government and the Office of the President of Ukraine, a similar scandal has hit Brussels with European politicians suspected of corruption.
The alleged head of the criminal gang in Ukraine was called by other members ’Ali Baba’. After the Belgian authorities conducted raids at the European External Action Service (EEAS) and detained the rector of the College of Europe Federica Mogherini and other suspects, the question is, who’s ’Ali Baba’ in the EEAS-gate scandal?
Just like in the so-called Ukrainian ’Mindichgate’ (after the central figure in the criminal organization, best friend and former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tymur Mindich), the question is whether it is Mogherini or someone else who was the highest-ranking top official behind the forty thieves.
Despite European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tries to distance herself from the EEAS fraud scandal saying it is a non-issue for the Commission, as the EEAS is a different and independent institution, on the one hand, it is hard to believe that she indeed had nothing to do with the allegations concerning the EEAS which fraudulently awarded a tender to run a training academy for future EU diplomats to the College of Europe in Bruges. In addition, one of the suspects is a top Commission official.
On the other hand, EEAS is, in fact, a separate institution with a separate boss, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat. She is the one whose husband continued to maintain business ties with Moscow after Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine started and Kaja Kallas became one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine in the EU.
At this point it should be noted that Kallas was not in office at the EEAS at the time of the alleged corruption. After the scandal broke, just like von der Leyen, Kallas also sought to distance herself from the probe.
The recent corruption scandal’s main suspect, Federica Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister, as the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019 was also in charge of the EEAS. She has been at the College of Europe since 2020. The other main suspect, DG MENA chief Stefano Sannino responsible for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf countries, a senior commission official, who was secretary general of the EEAS from 2021 to 2024. He left his role at the Commission after the scandal broke.
The raids were conducted and the arrests were made at the request of of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), with the help of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). At the center of the probe is the College of Europe for the EU Diplomatic Academy, a training program for junior diplomats from the member states, awarded by the EEAS to the College of Europe during 2021-2022 following a tender procedure. According to the suspicion, the participants received useful information in advance such as selection criteria and requirements, before the publication of the call for tenders.
When speaking about the College of Europe there are certain things that should be strongly stressed including that it receives EU funding. At the College of Europe, the diplomatic academy was launched as a pilot project in 2022 with a budget of nearly €1m (!) and the aim of ’building a European diplomatic corps that shares a truly common diplomatic culture’.
Kaja Kallas found the allegations against Mogherini and Sannino ’deeply shocking,’ and felt important to stress that all this had predated her time at the EEAS. Moreover, it was Kallas who had launched internal reforms at the EEAS including setting up an anti-fraud strategy and building stronger cooperation with the EU’s anti-fraud agency, OLAF, and the EPPO.
To compare, it was President Zelenskyy of Ukraine who had said yes to tackling corruption in his country in order to contribute to Ukraine’s fast-track EU membership, but decided to dismantle the independence of the anti-corruption authorities this summer, in order to secure green light for his friends and business associates to escape from the country. However, as the anti-corruption watchdogs could continue working thanks to strong international demands, Zelenskyy had to take very painful decisions this November, including issuing a warrant against his close friend Tymur Mindich and getting rid of Andriy Yermak as head of the Office of the President, not to mention the dismissal of top government officials. And, this is also important to note, following all these steps, Zelenskyy still could not find anyone in his country who would be ready to believe that the president was not involved in the criminal activities…
While some European politicians say that the EU’s political leadership has been muted on the fraud investigation and is firmly on the defensive, and they are worried because the credibility of European institutions is at stake, others from von der Leyen’s own governing coalition want to see her take a tough position regarding the scandal and corruption in particular, well before the Commission President’s opponents flood social media with AI-generated videos portraying Brussels as a power centre where top officials abuse public money.
The fact that Washington is paying special attention to the fraud scandal in Brussels should also be emphasised. When concerning the issue of Ukraine, peace talks are under consideration, a fraud scandal in the heart of the EU is definitely the worst thing that could take place as it is fully undermining the peace efforts by any European actor and distancing the EU from the negotiating table.
Despite Mogherini and other suspects resigned, the situation is still a concern in Europe. In this new European crisis, the fact that that tensions between EU politicians and Belgian authorities grow is just the smallest problem, however, Eva Kaili, a former European Parliament vice president who was embroiled in the Qatargate corruption scandal was quick to seize the opportunity to comment on the Mogherini case saying that Belgium is ’not a safe place’ for politicians.
What is important is not the words of a corrupt MEP but that, after corruption and favouritism cases such as the Qatargate scandal, the Huawei case and others, the EEAS-gate clearly shows once again that, despite transparency being a core principle and value for the EU, corruption in the EU elites has become commonplace.
No matter how hard Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas try to distance themselves from the scandal rocking the EU right now, they are still responsible as it is their European Union since due to increasingly centralized decision-making, everything that happens in the EU reflects the political stance, the spirit and the moral level of its top leaders, just as Zelenskyy’s Ukraine is just like the president himself: corrupt from top to bottom.
This is not an EU the Europeans deserve and not a Ukraine the Ukrainians deserve which means that, just as it would be in the best interests of the Ukrainian people if Zelenskyy were to leave, it would also be better for the EU citizens if they no longer had to live together with the corruption of their current leaders.
