The Patriots of Europe (PfE), the third largest coalition of parties in the European Parliament, announced on Wednesday that searches have been conducted in its "administrative offices" in the European Parliament buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg. These searches appear to be related to investigations into budget misuse concerning members of the previous group, the Identity and Democracy (ID) group.
Investigations into budget misuse
The European Public Prosecutor's Office, an independent body that investigates and prosecutes crimes related to the European Union budget, announced that searches have been conducted in France and Belgium. These searches are part of an ongoing investigation into the use of the European Union budget by a previous group in the European Parliament. The European Public Prosecutor's Office did not specify which group is involved in these investigations and has not released further details due to the potential risk to the investigations.
The Patriots of Europe group emphasized in a statement that it has no legal connection to the ID group and is not involved in the ongoing investigations. The group has also sought to clarify its distance from this case, although the political parties that make it up are largely similar to the previous group, except for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has now been removed.
More details about the searches
Jean-Paul Garraud, a French Member of the European Parliament from the National Rally (RN) party, stated that "the offices of former members of the Identity and Democracy group" have been targeted. According to a report by the European Parliament auditors last year, members of the ID group misused at least €4.3 million (approximately $4.8 million) from the European Union budget during the previous legislative term from 2019 to 2024.
According to this report, these funds were allocated to companies close to the group and associations that support anti-abortion campaigns. This case recalls the conviction of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the RN party, who was herself a former Member of the European Parliament and for a time seemed to affect her chances for the presidency of France.
The ID group existed from 2019 to 2024 in the European Parliament and included parties such as RN France, AfD Germany, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), and the League of Italy. This group ended after major internal disputes during the 2024 parliamentary election campaign, particularly due to dissatisfaction with its lead candidate, Maximilian Krah from AfD, on several issues.
The Patriots of Europe group holds 85 seats out of 719 in the European Parliament and is considered the third largest group in this assembly, although it is far behind the European People's Party (184 seats) and the Socialists and Democrats (135 seats). The European Parliament heavily relies on such groups that seek to bring together political parties from different countries with similar and aligned political positions.
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