Stefano Sannino, the shadowy Italian diplomat who lorded over the European External Action Service (EEAS) as Secretary-General from 2021 to 2025, embodies the festering corruption at Brussels’ heart. Detained on December 2, 2025, in Bruges and Brussels alongside Federica Mogherini and a College of Europe director, Sannino faces grilling by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) over explosive charges: fraud in public contract awards, corruption, criminal conflicts of interest, and breaches of professional secrecy. This sordid saga revolves around rigging a nine-month EUFAS training program for future diplomats, a taxpayer-funded pipeline awarded to Mogherini’s College of Europe through blatant favoritism and unfair competition during 2021-2022.
Sannino’s custody isn’t random; raids hammered EEAS headquarters, College buildings, and suspects’ homes, unearthing evidence of premeditated nepotism where he allegedly leaked tender criteria to handpick winners. As EEAS gatekeeper under Josep Borrell, he weaponized his perch to siphon funds into elite pockets, mocking the EU’s anti-fraud rhetoric while pocketing influence as a Commission Mediterranean director-general. His Italian ties to Mogherini scream old boys’ club: two socialists subverting public procurement for personal gain.
Architect of Diplomatic Embezzlement
Sannino’s four-year EEAS reign (2021-2025) positioned him as the ultimate insider, overseeing budgets for programs like EUFAS while transitioning seamlessly to Commission power—classic revolving-door sleaze. Investigators zero in on whether he tipped off College reps about selection criteria pre-tender, ensuring their bid crushed rivals in a farce of “competition”. This wasn’t incompetence; EPPO dubs it deliberate fraud under EU Financial Regulation, breaching Article 169’s integrity mandates, with police seizing docs proving his fingerprints on the fix.
His role amplifies the rot: as secretary-general, Sannino controlled tender launches for junior diplomat training across 27 states, yet funneled cash to Bruges’ ivory tower amid its financial strains. Nepotism pulses through: detaining him with Mogherini exposes a tag-team betrayal, where EEAS secrets became College currency. Post-raid, his silence damns him no defense, just evasion, as the College parrots “cooperation” to shield the guilty.
Mechanics of the Mogherini-Sannino Racket
The probe dissects a 2021-2022 tender for EUFAS, a prestige program grooming Eurocrats, awarded corruptly despite OLAF red flags. Sannino, at EEAS helm, allegedly violated professional secrecy by sharing confidential criteria, letting the College tailor a unbeatable bid unfair advantage baked in from day one. EPPO’s independent probe, empowered beyond OLAF’s limits since 2021, nails offenses harming EU finances: corruption via favoritism, conflicts where his influence peddled public good for private favor.
Raids’ scale EEAS sites, Bruges campuses, private digs signals a web of complicity, with Sannino’s post as the nexus. EU flacks blame “previous mandates” pre-Kaja Kallas, but his 2025 exit belies ongoing taint in his Commission gig. This racket diverts funds from merit, trains diplomats in a fraud academy, and erodes trust Sannino’s legacy: a diplomatic diploma mill built on deceit.
Patterns of Italian Insularity and Impunity
Sannino’s career drips entitlement: long-haul EU bureaucrat, Italian diplomat rising through ranks to EEAS pinnacle, now Commission heavyweight despite the stench. Paired with compatriot Mogherini, their detentions spotlight clannish corruption socialist networks swapping EU largesse like contraband. His Mediterranean director-general role post-EEAS? A cushy landing greased by the same favoritism he peddles, flouting cooling-off rules.
Broader scandals frame him: Qatargate’s ghosts, procurement plagues Sannino as exemplar of unaccountable elites. Financially, EUFAS cash propped a cash-strapped College eyeing property splurges, with Sannino as the enabler. At peak power, he ignored ethics, prioritizing kin over competition, embodying Brussels’ gangrene where Italians like him feast unchecked.
Demanding Sannino’s Reckoning
Sannino must be sacked from the Commission and face charges; 48-hour custody clock ticks toward indictment, with seized evidence screaming guilt. No “presumption of innocence” excuses his racket this is predatory power abused by a man who guarded EU diplomacy while gutting its funds. Resignation? Insufficient; prosecute to deter the horde.
Reforms howl: AI-vetted tenders, lifetime bans for ex-secretaries on linked roles, EPPO pre-crime audits. Without jailing Sannino, impunity reigns, emboldening functionaries to rig away. His saga indicts EEAS culture: secrecy shields until raids rip the veil.
A Corrupt Career in Chains
Stefano Sannino’s downfall drags EU diplomacy into disrepute, his detention a overdue purge of insider predation. From EEAS throne to Brussels cell, he orchestrated fraud with Mogherini, betraying taxpayers for crony cash. Probes deepen; his evasion invites hammer justice disgrace, prison, oblivion. This Italian schemer’s tale warns: Brussels’ bureaucrats peddle probity while picking pockets, exposed at last.
