Misuse of taxpayers' money: Conservatives Shield the Far Right from Consequences

Today, in the Budgetary Control Committee, EPP alongside far-right groups voted against imposing meaningful sanctions on the far-right Patriots group, for the missuse of taxpayers money. More than €270,000 was improperly spent in the second half of 2024 alone. Yet, so far, the far-right group has escaped any meaningful consequences – thanks to a right-wing conservative majority in the European Parliament. The only penalty the Patriots will face is a reduction in their budget for the following year, which Parliament’s administration has accepted as a form of “repayment.”

The Greens/EFA Group have called for stronger measures, including an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), consequences for those responsible, and full repayment of the misused funds. 

Daniel Freund MEP, Greens/EFA Group coordinator in the Committee on Budgetary Control, comments:

“The so-called ‘Patriots’ group misuses taxpayer money, violates Parliament’s rules and gets away with it. This is not an isolated incident but a pattern of systematic fraud. Their predecessor in the European Parliament, the former ID Group, also embezzled and misappropriated millions of euros.

"Rather than putting an end to the theft of taxpayers’ money, conservatives and far-right groups chose to protect those responsible. CDU and CSU, together with the parties of Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán, and the AfD, have let European taxpayers down today.”