Overview

• The European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a formal investigation on July 8 into the dissolved Identity and Democracy group for suspected misappropriation of EU parliamentary funds.
• A leaked European Parliament audit found over €4 million in suspect spending by ID affiliates, including France’s National Rally and Germany’s Alternative for Germany, from 2019 to 2024.
• The audit flagged inflated and fictitious contracts, breaches of procurement rules and donations to non-parliamentary activities, including a French cat sterilization nonprofit.
• No individual has been charged to date, and former secretary-general Philip Claeys denies wrongdoing, saying all payments were properly invoiced.
• National Rally leader Marine Le Pen remains barred from office under a March conviction for EU fund embezzlement and is appealing her sentence.