Parliament’s finance report says almost all parties and foundations were found to have broken the rules.
BRUSSELS — The European Parliament says €1.5 million was misspent by political parties and foundations during the 2024 EU election campaign, according to documents seen by POLITICO.
Every party, except the European Greens and the European Democratic Party, plus two minor foundations (which are usually think tanks linked to parties), was found to have broken the rules, according to a report drawn up by the Parliament’s finance department that closed the 2024 accounts.
However, Parliament’s finance department keeps the names of the parties and foundations that misspent funds out of the report unless they contested the findings.
The report says there are a number of reasons for the misspending, including excessive or unnecessary costs, violations of public procurement requirements, or because the money was used to indirectly finance a national political party.
In total, the parties and foundations had €74 million in EU grants at their disposal ahead of the election.
Of the €1.5 million, €711,000 was linked to costs not covered by valid contracts, overlapping services and, among other issues related to poor implementation of contracts, outsourced work that the Parliament found to contain “a high percentage of AI-generated content,” the report said.
The Parliament’s press service told POLITICO that most of the money flagged by the finance department was misspent because of “administrative or procedural errors.”
One standout example among the broader findings in the report is that two unnamed parties and two foundations claimed expenses they never actually incurred. They didn’t contest the findings, so they remain anonymous in the report.
These parties and foundations covered the costs of events or studies themselves, then were reimbursed by third parties, but still asked the Parliament to refund the full amount.
This accounting trick was repeatedly mentioned in last year’s audits, and this year the Parliament’s administration urged organizations in several meetings “to discontinue the practice,” the report says.
“There could have been an attempt to fraudulently use public money,” said Louis Drouneau, founder of the European Democracy Consulting, an organization that tracks political party donations and expenditure.
“And since there is so little transparency regarding the expenses of European parties … this decreases the ability of civil society and the press to keep a watchful eye on party expenses,” he said. “This is noticeably different from the level of transparency enacted in many member states.”
“Any suspicion of illegal activity, fraud or corruption must be reported” to the anti-fraud office or the European prosecutor, the Parliament said in a statement. It could not confirm how many cases were referred to these authorities over 2024 misspending.
Of the €1.5 million, only €130,453 is properly accounted for in the Parliament’s report, with the reasons given for the misspending and those responsible: the Patriots, the Green European Foundation, the Institute of European Democrats and the European Liberal Forum. No specific details are given for the rest of the money as the parties and foundations in question chose to repay the funds rather than contest the findings.
“Transparency is an essential principle in the management of taxpayers’ money,” said Shari Hinds, senior policy officer for EU political integrity at Transparency International. “In practice, however, the complexity of financial rules and procedures can make it challenging to fully reconstruct how certain decisions are implemented.”
The Party of European Socialists said they were “not concerned by the issues raised and … not involved in the matters described.”
The European People’s Party-linked Wilfried Martens Centre said: “This is a matter of annual routine as part of [the finance department’s] oversight procedures. For us, this has always affected a negligible percentage of our budget and 2024 was no different.”
The European Democratic Party — one of the two parties that did not have expenses reclaimed — said: “We remain committed to transparency, accountability and sound financial management in the use of European public funds.”
“We do think the right to be heard is important and should be applied consistently,” said the Green European Foundation.
The Socialist-linked FEPS chose not to comment.
The rest of the parties and foundations did not reply to requests for comment.