Three people have been arrested and the offices of an EU agency searched in an investigation into the awarding of a publicly-funded contract to run training courses for junior diplomats.
The fraud inquiry is focused on the so-called “European diplomacy academy” which was set up in recent years. The academy is run by the College of Europe, a prestigious postgraduate university in Bruges, Belgium, that has for decades educated many of the officials who staff the EU’s institutions.
The investigation is examining whether the university received advanced information that helped it to win an open competition for the contract to run the training programme in the period 2021-2022.
The Brussels offices of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the union’s own diplomatic corps, were searched on Tuesday. Searches were also conducted at the College of Europe and the homes of several suspects.
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The inquiry is being led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, an agency that investigates suspected fraud involving EU funds. The contract was awarded to the College of Europe by the EEAS.
The training programme was set up on a pilot basis to foster a “truly European diplomatic culture”, by bringing together national diplomats from EU states and those working directly for the EU’s institutions, who are in the early stages of their careers.
The course involves several months studying at the College of Europe. The European diplomatic academy started out with an annual budget of close to €1 million.
The investigation is focused on the circumstances around the awarding of the contract, rather than any misuse of funding by the project itself.
The aim of the training was to help diplomats “effectively promote and defend the EU’s values and interests in the world,” according to the website of the EEAS.
In a statement, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office said three people had been arrested.
Searches were carried out by Belgium’s federal police at the request of the EU’s anti-fraud authority.
The prosecutor’s office said it was examining whether the College of Europe “and/or their representatives”, had been given advanced notice of the selection criteria for the contract, before it was officially advertised by the EEAS.
The investigation was also looking into whether the College of Europe “had sufficient reason” to believe it would be awarded the contract, before it was put to an open competition, the statement said.
The European prosecutor said there were “strong suspicions” that confidential information was shared with “one of the candidates” bidding for the contract, during the process.
A spokeswoman for the EEAS confirmed police searches took place at the offices of the EU’s diplomatic corps. “For the moment there is not anything else that we can share,” she said. The College of Europe said it had no comment to make.
