EU prosecutors search offices linked to former far-right Parliament group

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has searched premises in France and Belgium as part of an ongoing investigation into the use of European Union funds by a former European Parliament group. The searches included administrative offices at the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg, according to the current Patriots for Europe alliance. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, or EPPO, did not identify the group under investigation.

It said the operation concerned suspected crimes involving the EU budget and that it would provide no further details for now in order not to compromise the inquiry. Patriots for Europe said the searches appeared to be connected to a complaint involving the Identity and Democracy group, which was dissolved in 2024 after the last European Parliament elections. The current alliance said the searches had taken place at its offices but insisted that it was not involved in the investigation.

“The Patriots for Europe Group emphasizes that there is no legal continuity with the ID Group,” the alliance said in a statement. A French member of the European Parliament, Jean-Paul Garraud of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, said staff offices belonging to the former Identity and Democracy group had been targeted. The dispute centres on an earlier audit of the former group’s finances.

European Parliament auditors concluded last year that at least €4.3 million in EU funds had been misused during the 2019-24 legislative term. According to the audit cited by DW, money flowed to companies close to the group and to associations supporting anti-abortion campaigners. Identity and Democracy included National Rally, Germany’s AfD, Austria’s Freedom Party and Italy’s Lega, among others.

It broke apart amid internal disputes during the 2024 European election campaign. The tensions included controversy surrounding Maximilian Krah of the AfD, whose associates faced allegations of Russian and Chinese influence; one aide was later convicted of spying for China. The successor Patriots for Europe includes National Rally, the Freedom Party and Lega, but not the AfD.

It has 85 seats in the 719-member European Parliament, making it the chamber’s third-largest group, though well behind the European People’s Party and the Socialists and Democrats. The AfD instead belongs to the smaller Europe of Sovereign Nations group, which has 27 seats. The searches do not establish wrongdoing by Patriots for Europe or any individual member.

EPPO has not announced charges, and the current alliance’s claim that it has no legal continuity with Identity and Democracy remains its stated position while the investigation proceeds. The operation nevertheless brings renewed attention to the financial practices of the former far-right parliamentary group and to the way its constituent parties reorganised after 2024.