Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office searched administrative offices of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg on Wednesday, October 21. The raids concern an ongoing probe into the misuse of European funds by the former Identity and Democracy group, which dissolved in 2024 following that year’s elections.
Searches at European Parliament Sites
On Wednesday, investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) executed searches at the European Parliament’s premises in both Belgium and France. The office, an independent body tasked with protecting the European Union’s financial interests, confirmed the action in an official statement, noting that further details could not be shared in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing inquiry.
The institution itself was gathered in Strasbourg for its plenary session during the week of the raids.
🚨 Patriots for Europe Clarifies Its Position Regarding Ongoing EPPO Investigations into Former ID Group pic.twitter.com/iRxhrAhmM5
— https://x.com/PatriotsEP/status/2112866975676592564
Inquiry Into the Former Identity and Democracy Group
The Patriots for Europe group first made the news of the searches public on Wednesday. Parties such as Vlaams Belang, the French Rassemblement National (RN), and Geert Wilders’s PVV previously made up the ID group, and those same parties now sit in the newly formed Patriots for Europe faction.
The search targets the former secretary general of the ID Group in the context of an investigation into this former group. The Patriots are not targeted. No elected official is being searched.
A representative of the Patriots for Europe group, via AFP
Patriots Group Denies Involvement in Police Raids
While the police raids took place on both Parliament sites in Brussels and Strasbourg inside administrative offices of the former ID group, representatives for the Patriots stressed that their own faction is not involved in the active proceedings.
Jordan Bardella, the co-chair of the Patriots group and leader whose party includes the RN, did not wish to make a comment on the matter. The services of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office were not immediately reachable to confirm any fresh developments within the investigation.