Paul KirbyEurope digital editor
Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief until 2019, has resigned from a leading role in Belgium after she was detained for questioning and accused in connection with an anti-corruption investigation.
The investigation, ordered by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), related to suspected fraud involving the award of an EU-funded training for junior diplomats to the College of Europe.
Ms Mogherini, 52, was head of the highly regarded institute based in Bruges. She was questioned this week along with another staff member at the college and a senior official from the European Commission.
She was released after a reported 10 hours of questioning, and later put out a statement expressing “full confidence in the justice system”.
In what was seen as an implicit denial of the accusations, she said the College had always “applied and will continue to apply the highest standards of integrity and fairness”. “I will obviously continue to offer my full collaboration to the authorities,” she added.
In a further statement announcing her resignation on Thursday, Ms Mogherini said she was proud of what she and her colleagues had achieved, and had decided to resign as rector “in line with the utmost rigour and fairness with which I always carried out my duties”.
The revelation this week that such a well known figure in EU circles had been detained and questioned for a reported 10 hours came at an awkward moment for the European Union, which recently called on Ukraine to tackle a high-level corruption scandal.
As head of the College of Europe, the EU’s former top diplomat helped launch the EU’s fledgling Diplomatic Academy in 2022, with the aim of building a European diplomatic corps.
EU prosecutors said their investigation focused on whether there had been a fair competition process over a nine-month training programme awarded to the College by the EU’s European External Action Service.
Last year, the EU confirmed the Diplomatic Academy was being set up in partnership with the College of Europe and with Federica Mogherini as its director.
