MEPs block EPPO probe into Patriots' €276,967 misspent funds

The European Parliament’s budgetary control committee has voted to close a misspending case involving the hard-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) group by ordering a simple repayment of €276,967. Instead of referring the matter to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), MEPs effectively shielded the group from a formal criminal investigation.

An internal audit found that the PfE, led by France’s Jordan Bardella, awarded contracts to companies linked to its own national party members. This direct breach of EU financial rules typically triggers a referral to prosecutorial authorities to determine if criminal fraud occurred.

However, the Tuesday vote succeeded because the far-right group secured the backing of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). For European taxpayers and businesses monitoring the bloc's financial governance, this alliance demonstrates how internal parliamentary controls can be bypassed to protect political allies from legal scrutiny.

Transparency International EU has now intervened, submitting a formal complaint to the EPPO due to the parliament's failure to act. “The repeated misuse of EU taxpayers’ money by far-right political groups in the parliament has gone on far too long,” said Nick Aiossa, the organisation's director.

The repayment order covers a fraction of the financial scrutiny currently facing the faction. The EPPO is already investigating PfE’s predecessor, the Identity and Democracy group, for the alleged misspending of €4.3m in taxpayer funds.

The Patriots reject the investigations as a politically motivated attack, pointing out that only 21 of their 85 current MEPs were members of the previous group. This argument was notably amplified by Tamas Deutsch, a Hungarian politician from the Fidesz party. Fidesz itself has faced extensive accusations of widespread corruption related to EU funds in Hungary.

The committee's decision reflects a broader institutional reluctance to aggressively police its own members. The parliament remains acutely aware of the reputational damage it suffered after a vice-president was caught by Belgian police with a suitcase full of cash from Qatar and Morocco.

This aversion to public scrutiny persists despite recent high-profile convictions. Earlier this month, Marine Le Pen, Bardella's political boss and a future French presidential candidate, was convicted for embezzling millions in European Parliament funds to finance her national party. She now wears an electronic tag.