The corruption scandal in the European Union continues to dominate the attention of politicians and experts — unsurprisingly. After all, the investigation now targets Federica Mogherini, the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Stefano Sannino, the former Secretary-General of the same service. Mogherini is being accused of corruption — more precisely, fraud. As the BBC explains, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) stated that the investigation concerns a tender that the European External Action Service (EEAS) awarded to the College of Europe in Bruges in 2021–2022. There are “serious suspicions” of favoritism in the awarding of a nine-month training program for young diplomatic professionals.
Many experts have already begun revealing the internal mechanics. The European Commission, in practice, operated with almost no internal oversight: in tender procedures, it acted both as evaluator and arbiter. Saying that such conditions encourage corruption is an understatement. As a result, Politico already notes that Brussels is “mired in corruption.” And it is clear why: the EU is an extremely bureaucratic structure, and where there is bureaucracy, corruption follows. European institutions have previously been found to have “misallocated funds” amounting to billions of euros. Those cases did not lead to criminal proceedings. But now, it seems, “the abscess has burst.” Many experts predict that the Mogherini case may become another “Mario Chiesa moment” — it was the arrest of the Italian nursing home director in 1992 that triggered the famous anti-mafia operation “Clean Hands.” Mogherini, of course, has no links to the mafia — the matter concerns straightforward corruption. But it is unlikely that only Mogherini and Sannino were involved in corrupt schemes in Brussels.
As Minval Politika notes, Mogherini has always been very close to the well-known Josep Borrell, under whose tenure as the EU’s top diplomat Brussels showered Armenia with promises of “standing by its side,” offering security-oriented funding despite its CSTO membership, and much more. His activities, too, would be worth examining — or rather, investigating, especially regarding his ties with the Armenian lobby.
There is yet another point. European politicians love lecturing Eastern European and post-Soviet countries on anti-corruption. But how free from corruption are Europeans themselves? That is a very big question.
There is ample food for thought: the scandals surrounding Sweden’s arms sales to India, where the Bofors defense group distributed bribes so energetically that corruption schemes in India are still colloquially called “bofors.” The respected Norwegian company Statoil (now Equinor) was also at the center of major corruption scandals.
African politicians have their own arguments: in post-colonial states, officials might have resisted when someone came offering a bottle of palm wine and a small local-currency bribe. But when Europeans in impeccable suits entered their office and promised sums larger than the entire departmental budget, resisting became far more difficult. It is no coincidence that in the “Third World,” many believe that corruption problems are largely created by Europeans themselves — and by the same “unclean” political institutions in Europe.
One need only recall the series of scandals in the European Parliament, where no less than Vice President Eva Kaili was arrested for bribery. Everything unfolded in the worst traditions of corruption schemes — with bags of cash and attempts to evade arrest. Meanwhile, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, under whose watch all this occurred, did not even think of apologizing or resigning. Instead, she actively tried to impose censorship on Azerbaijan — displeased by statements from Milli Majlis deputies about corruption in her institution, she even demanded that Speaker Gafarova “take measures.”
Taking measures against corruption herself, of course, was not on her agenda. And MEPs continued to behave according to the principle “they swim in shallow waters, but row like crazy!” Scandals have already erupted over bribes distributed by the notorious “king of blood diamonds” Aram Karapetyan. The press regularly reports arrests of MEPs and staffers accused of working for Russia — naturally, not for free.
And this is far from a complete list of corruption scandals in European institutions, where the situation now seems to be slipping out of control — to the extent that corruption and fraud allegations are being brought against the very top layers of the EU, albeit “former” officials. And it is entirely possible that the real scandal is only just beginning.
Nurani
