Far-right group misappropriated EU funds, prompting European Parliament to pursue financial restitution
EU Parliament Committee Suggests Recovery of €4 Million from Patriots for Europe Group
In a recent development, the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) has proposed that the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group should be held liable for the alleged misuse of over €4 million in EU funds by the Identity and Democracy (ID) group.
The suspected irregularities were first flagged in February, leading the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) to open an investigation on the topic. The ID group, which includes France's Rassemblement National, Italy's The League, and potentially others, is said to have spent these funds wrongly between 2019 and 2024.
Niclas Herbst, the chair of the CONT Committee, stated that they want the Parliament to recover all the funds and do not want any group to be able to just rebrand itself and escape its responsibilities. However, the CONT Committee is not able to decide whether the PfE group is "the successor" of the ID group, but can suggest applying "economic continuity."
The European political party formerly registered as 'Identité et Démocratie Parti' (ID Party) has changed its denomination to 'Patriots.eu', affirming a legal continuity between the two parties. The Secretary-General and several senior staff of the PfE group are identical to those of the dissolved ID Group.
According to Parliament's rules, a political group should be treated as "the successor" of a dissolved one if some conditions apply, such as a decisive share of the former group's members moving together into the new formation, premises, IT systems, bank accounts or other assets passing to the new structure, and the new name and public messaging presenting the entity as the direct heir of the dissolved group.
The CONT Committee proposes that the Parliament could "pursue any entity that is the substantive economic continuation of the original debtor," thereby pointing the finger at the Patriots for Europe group. The final decision on whether to hold the PfE group accountable for ID's misuse of funds will be taken by the Parliament's Bureau, composed of the President Roberta Metsola, 14 vice-presidents, and five quaestors.
It's worth noting that the CONT Committee's opinion was not met with immediate acceptance by the PfE group. In a statement shared on its social networks, the group labeled the opinion a "baseless witch hunt." Tamás Deutsch, CONT coordinator for PfE, commented that the claim that the Patriots are the legal successor to the ID group is baseless and politically motivated.
The European Commission has the right to oblige the PfE group to repay the misused funds if the Parliament's Bureau decides in favour of holding the group accountable. The CONT Committee also recommends that the Parliament's legal and financial services examine the feasibility of bringing a civil action against the external auditors who certified the ID Group's accounts.
Despite the controversy, the PfE group continues to be a significant political force within the European Parliament, with a substantial majority of former ID members sitting in the group. The outcome of this investigation could have far-reaching implications for the future of political groups within the European Parliament.
In the meantime, the EPPO investigation continues, and the European Parliament's Bureau is expected to make a decision on the matter in due course.
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