EU prosecutors search Patriots for Europe offices in alleged funds probe

The searches were conducted by, or on behalf of, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, known as EPPO. The operation took place at Parliament sites in Brussels and Strasbourg, according to the reporting, although the precise offices within the complex have not been identified.

The inquiry focuses on alleged financial misconduct by Identity and Democracy, the parliamentary group that dissolved in 2024. The allegations concern more than €4 million in EU funds. POLITICO Europe reports that Parliament’s finance department found €4.3 million misspent between 2019 and 2024.

The reported allegations include possible irregular donations to regional organisations in several EU countries and potential breaches of tender rules in contracts awarded to companies considered friendly to the group, according to POLITICO Europe’s account of the investigation. The funds were allocated by Parliament for political groups’ administrative and operating costs.

Patriots for Europe said the complaint concerns the dissolved Identity and Democracy group. It maintains that there is no legal continuity between the two groups and says Patriots for Europe is not involved in the ongoing investigation. That position is a statement by the current group, rather than a definitive legal finding.

The distinction matters because the two formations are linked by personnel and political succession in the reporting. POLITICO Europe says that when Identity and Democracy dissolved, many of its staff moved to Patriots for Europe, alongside lawmakers from several of the parties previously represented in the former group.

Euronews reports that parliamentary rules may treat a new political group as the successor to a dissolved one, and therefore make it liable for outstanding debts, if specified conditions are met. Those conditions can involve a decisive share of members moving together, the transfer of premises or assets, or public presentation of the new group as the former group’s direct heir.

Euronews also reports that a parliamentary opinion argued EU funds allegedly spent improperly by Identity and Democracy should be repaid by Patriots for Europe once the investigation is closed. The reports do not establish whether the successor conditions apply in this case, leaving the question of financial responsibility unresolved.

The searches follow an earlier financial dispute involving Patriots for Europe. POLITICO Europe reports that Parliament’s finance department ordered the group in 2025 to return €276,967 in EU funds it said had been misused during the second half of 2024 in connection with similar tender procedures.

Neither the precise investigators involved nor the specific offices searched has been identified in the locked reporting. The allegations remain under investigation, and the available facts do not establish criminal or other legal liability. Euronews’ reporting links Marine Le Pen to the matter through her National Rally’s membership in Patriots for Europe, but the evidence does not establish her personal involvement in the searches or the alleged conduct.