On Federica Mogherini, and the third scandal in six years to rock the College of Europe

Back in 2003-04 I was a Masters student in the politics department at the College of Europe. Respect for procedure and for the Rule of Law, and the European Union as a community of law, were common themes throughout the year. And those are principles I have done my best to also instil in my students as a Visiting Professor* at the Bruges campus of the College of Europe since I started teaching there in 2015. I was one of the team of three teaching the negotiation simulation game (last year was my last doing that), but I am still teaching a workshop about digital political communication, and I do bits and pieces of work for the Development Office and present at a summer school about railways.

But the past few years have been a bit of a challenge – an increasing contradiction between those values in theory, and the way the College of Europe operates in practice.

The problems came to a head in 2019 when the College of Europe was seeking to find a new Rector (the boss of the place), and the procedures were abruptly changed in the middle of the process. I coordinated an open letter among alumni about the issue at the time, the letter demanding “the College of Europe to abide by the very values it expects of its teachers and its students, including a respect for due process and the rule of law, and a commitment to transparency and accountability“. I did not make many friends internally back then, and some people who knew what was going on sooner ducked the issues rather than sticking to any sort of principles throughout that episode. Federica Mogherini was duly appointed, and has held the position of Rector since.

Then in 2024 there was the next issue: the then boss of the politics department (my direct boss, essentially) was dismissed for sexual harassment allegations. I have no knowledge of the substance of the case, but the dismissal decision was taken – as far as I can tell – without full respect of the procedures which are in place for such cases. My effort to enquire about how the procedures were followed were rebuffed internally, ironically by one of the very people who had taught me back in 2004.

And so we come to today’s news that Federica Mogherini and two others have been arrested in a fraud probe – Euractiv has the most detailed piece about what is going on. The allegations centre on the setting up of the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges, and the purchase of the Spanjaardstraat residence building, today replete with its pictures of Mogherini and Herman Van Rompuy hanging in the foyer (pictured).

All I can feel at this moment is sadness for the plight of an institution being rocked by another scandal, an institution that – for whatever its flaws – I have had an association with throughout my adult life.

I am not privy to any internal information, I had nothing to do with the European Diplomatic Academy, and I only set foot in Spanjaardstraat as we visiting teachers were housed there, so I have no detail whatsoever about the substance of the allegations.

But what I do know for certain is now, just as was the case in 2019 and 2024, there are some ways we should always aim to behave. The Rule of Law must be followed. We have to presume innocence until a person is proven guilty. We have to make sure that procedures are rigorously observed.

* – this is the College of Europe’s title for people like me. But I don’t even have a PhD, so slightly less presumptuous places would call it Visiting Lecturer or some such.