The EU’s public prosecutor (EPPO) confirmed to POLITICO that it is conducting its own investigation into mismanagement of funds.
Public contracts for friends and irregular donations
The alleged misspending relates to the budget allocated annually by the Parliament for political groups to spend on administrative and operative costs, as well as political and information activities related to its work, known in Parliament lingo as “budget item 400.”
The financial audit, first reported by Le Monde, says the group breached the public tender rules when awarding contracts for advertisements, community management, and printing services in several companies in Austria, France, and Germany, totaling about €3,598,803.
“The tender procedure was conducted as a purely formal exercise, without showing the intent to have a choice of offers to select the best possible provider,” the report says.
The report also alleges public contracts may have been awarded to companies friendly to the party.
In one case, contracts for ads in an Austrian magazine were directly awarded to a company led by a former MEP of the Austrian FPÖ party, a member of the ID group and current member of Patriots, the report says.
