EU's culture of harassment and fraud laid bare

Telegraph

16-03-2025

A damning report into misbehaving Eurocrats has revealed a swathe of sexual and psychological harassment, religious abuse and fraud within the European Union's top institution.
The internal report, obtained by The Telegraph, highlights almost 100 investigations into European Commission officials for a wide range of misdemeanours, many of which were punished with a mere slap on the wrist.
There were probes into a money-laundering scheme, an official stealing cash from colleagues and dozens of cases of sexual and psychological harassment.
The report, which is usually hidden from the public by Eurocrats, was only released as part of a Freedom of Information request.
Frank Furedi, of the MCC Brussels think tank, which helped unearth the documents, said: 'The numerous cases of disciplinary proceedings serve as testimony to the poor standard of behaviour inside the institutions of the EU.
'Yet we know from anecdotal evidence that far too many examples of inappropriate behaviour do not become targets of disciplinary proceedings.'
He added: 'The real problem is the lack of decisive and ethical leadership from those in charge of EU units.'
The Investigatory and Disciplinary Office of the Commission (Idoc) investigated 88 new cases last year, resulting in only one dismissal.
Allegations of either sexual or psychological harassment featured in 21 of the investigations.
In one case, an official was penalised with a €2,000-a-month deduction from their overall pay package for 18 months after they were found to have 'adopted seriously inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment'.
The unusually high penalty was justified because 'the misconduct was recurrent and that it seriously disrupted the working environment'.
The official in question had attempted to justify their behaviour as a result of a 'medical condition', but this excuse was thrown out by investigators.
Another anonymous official working at an overseas EU delegation was given a mere warning after being accused of 'inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues, including investigating about colleagues' lives and whereabouts, threatening them to obtain private information about them, questioning their religious choices and commenting on their looks'.
The perpetrator was let off without any serious punishment because they owned up to their actions, apologised and improved behaviour at work, the report said.
In another case highlighted by Idoc's report, a senior member of staff was reprimanded for having 'intimate relationships' with two juniors under his command.
The head of unit – a middle manager role in the Commission – failed to report the relationships as a 'conflict of interest' even after he was alerted to the misdemeanours.
The report reveals how officials stole from both their colleagues and the EU taxpayers who fund the Commission.
One official was demoted a grade – which could result in the docking of thousands of euros in wages – for 'having stolen cash from colleagues'.
A contractor was reprimanded for transporting their family in a EU-owned 'service vehicle', broke public parking rules and 'enabled, through this negligent behaviour, the theft of the said vehicle'.
A retired official had their pension reduced to the minimum amount for a period of 10 years because they were found guilty of being involved in 'a money-laundering scheme involving mainly a company which benefited from EU funds and its owners'.
As well as the more serious offences, there were slaps on the wrists handed out for more petty behaviour.
One official, who had 20 years service, got away with a warning after they 'deliberately deleted … a folder that was necessary to organise the daily work of the unit' from a shared drive.
Five officials were ticked off for leaking 'non-public information', 12 'breaches of loyalty' and two cases of inappropriate use of social media.
In one case, an official was demoted by one grade for being found guilty of a crime by a court in an EU member state. They had also published 'articles' in an online newspaper relating to Brussels without prior 'authorisation'.
As part of Idoc's work last year, it launched an outreach campaign titled 'Say no to temptations, they might have disciplinary consequences!'.
It featured seven training sessions available to EU officials, which featured 'case studies based on anonymised Idoc cases … given to raise awareness on what is appropriate or forbidden to pursue as EU staff members'.