Politicians across the spectrum will go to great lengths to shield themselves from public scrutiny. When things unravel, they typically blame others, claim innocence, or resort to witch-hunt rhetoric that would make Donald Trump blush.
The far-right is particularly adept at this, and in the European Parliament it can count on strong allies in the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). For some, scrutiny and accountability, even from political peers, is a price too high to pay especially when EU funds are at stake.
The spectacle was on full display earlier this week in the parliament’s budgetary control committee. At issue was €276,967 in EU funds that an internal audit found had been misspent by the Patriots for Europe group (PfE), the hard-right outfit led by France’s Jordan Bardella.
The Patriots had reportedly awarded contracts to companies with ties to their national party members, in breach of EU rules.
But rather than referring the case to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the committee opted to have PfE repay the sum – effectively closing the file.
