Brussels, 15 July 2026
Following the European Parliament’s failure to act at a vote yesterday in the Committee on Budgetary Control, Transparency International EU (TI EU) has today submitted a complaint to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on the potential misuse of over 276,000 euros by the European Parliament’s far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) group.
The Parliament is the ultimate authority in ensuring taxpayers’ money is spent according to the rules. Yet a coalition between the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and far-right groups, including the PfE themselves, yesterday prevented the matter from being referred to the EPPO. Instead, the grouping appears satisfied that the PfE can simply repay the funds it misspent from a reserve fund of more taxpayers’ money. This decision comes despite a consistent pattern of potential misuse by far-right groups including the PfE’s predecessor in anything but name, the Identity and Democracy (ID) group.
Nick Aiossa, Director at Transparency International EU, said
“The repeated misuse of EU taxpayers’ money by far-right political groups in the Parliament has gone on far too long. The newest allegations of the misspending of 276,000 euros by Jordan Bardella’s Patriots for Europe group must be fully investigated. This is why we have now referred the matter to the European Public Prosecutor, in the absence of adequate action by the European Parliament.”
